The New Negro

"The New Negro: An Interpretation" is a 1925 anthology edited by the philosopher Alain Locke. It was published by Albert and Charles Boni and is widely considered the definitive text of the Harlem Renaissance.

The anthology compiles foundational essays, poetry, and fiction from iconic writers of the Harlem Renaissance. It features seminal works by literary giants such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Countee Cullen, as well as illustrations by Aaron Douglas.

The volume promoted a modern cultural identity that explicitly rejected the older, subservient stereotypes of African Americans perpetuated during the Reconstruction era. It argued that Black art, literature, and intellectual thought were essential to achieving racial equality and uplifting the community.

Yes, while Locke's book was a standalone anthology, many of the writers featured in it were previously published in W.E.B. Du Bois's magazine "The Crisis." Locke's compilation successfully synthesized the artistic movement that these periodicals had fostered in the early 1920s.