Alain L. Locke: The Biography of a Philosopher

449 Pages·2008·2.78 MB·English

by  Leonard Harris

Alain L. Locke
Aaron Douglas, Locke’s personal bookplate, circa 1925.
Alain L. Locke
Biogr a ph y of a Ph ilosoph e r
Leonard Harris & Charles Molesworth
The University of Chicago Press Chicago & London
leonard harris is professor of philosophy at
Purdue University.
charles molesworth is professor of English at Queens
College, City University of New York.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2008 by Leonard Harris and Charles Molesworth
All rights reserved. Published 2008
Printed in the United States of America
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13: 978-0-226-31776-2 (cloth)
isbn-10: 0-226-31776-5 (cloth)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Harris, Leonard, 1948–
Alain L. Locke : bibliography of a philosopher / Leonard
Harris and Charles Molesworth.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-226-31776-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-31776-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Locke, Alain LeRoy, 1886–1954. 2. African American
philosophers—Biography. 3. African American intellectuals—
Biography. I. Molesworth, Charles, 1941– II. Title.
e185.97.l79h37 2009
191—dc22
2008028664
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of the American National Standard for Information
Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ansi z39.48-1992.
In memory of
Jamila R. Harris-Grant

C o n t e n t s
Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xv
Introduction 1
1 • The Lockes of Philadelphia 5
2 • Harvard 28
3 • Oxford and Berlin 59
4 • Howard: The Early Years 107
5 • Howard and Beyond 142
6 • The Renaissance and the New Negro 179
7 • After The New Negro 218
8 • New Horizons: Sahdji to the Bronze Booklets 251
9 • The Educator at Work and at Large 285
10 • Theorizing Democracy 328
11 • The Final Years 358
12 • Locke’s Legacy 381
Notes 391
Index 419

I l l u s t r a t i o n s
Frontispiece. Aaron Douglas, Locke’s personal bookplate,
circa 1925(?) ii
1.1. Mary Hawkins Locke. 9
1.2. Pliny Locke. 9
1.3. Locke at his Central High School. 21
3.1. Locke at Oxford, 1907–10. 61
3.2. Pixley Seme, 1904. 68
3.3. Locke with members of the Cosmopolitan Club. 72
4.1. Locke at the time of his Harvard Ph.D., 1917–18. 135
5.1. Langston Hughes, signed “to my friend.” 165
5.2. René Maran. 165
6.1. W. E. B. Du Bois by Winold Reiss. 196
6.2. Jessie Fauset, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston. 200
8.1. William Grant Still, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1949. 252
8.2. Sahdji, performed at the Rochester Music Festival. 257
8.3. Sahdji, performed at the University of Illinois, Urbana-
Champaign. 257
9.1. Arthur Schomburg. 293
9.2. Claude McKay. 293
9.3. Locke and Paul Robeson. 308
10.1. Locke, photographed by Gordon Parks. 354
10.2. Louis Finkelstein and Loren McIver with Locke. 356
11.1. Locke, photographed by Glenn Carrington. 362