The New Negro

American literary anthology

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July 16, 2026

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The New Negro: An Interpretation is a seminal anthology edited by Alain Locke and published in 1925. It is considered a cornerstone of the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural and artistic explosion among African Americans in the 1920s. The anthology featured fiction, poetry, drama, and essays by emerging Black writers, showcasing a new sense of assertiveness and self-confidence. Locke aimed to define the "New Negro" as distinct from the "Old Negro," emphasizing personal self-expression, racial pride, and literary experimentation over mere social protest. The book's success helped to galvanize the movement and bring wider attention to African American artistic talent.123

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African American literature
The Harlem Renaissance
…of the 1920s, epitomized in The New Negro (1925), an anthology edited by writer and educator Alain Locke that featured the early work of some of the most gifted Harlem Renaissance writers, including the poets Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, and Claude McKay and the novelists Rudolph Fisher, Zora Neale
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…of the 1920s, epitomized in The New Negro (1925), an anthology edited by writer and educator Alain Locke that featured the early work of some of the most gifted Harlem Renaissance writers, including the poets Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, and Claude McKay and the novelists Rudolph Fisher, Zora Neale
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African Americans
The Garvey movement and the Harlem Renaissance
…American philosopher Alain Locke in The New Negro, published in 1925, and by African American historian Carter G. Woodson, founder of the Association for the Study of Negro (now African American) Life and History and editor of the Journal of Negro History.
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…American philosopher Alain Locke in The New Negro, published in 1925, and by African American historian Carter G. Woodson, founder of the Association for the Study of Negro (now African American) Life and History and editor of the Journal of Negro History.
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Aaron Douglas
…commission—to illustrate Alain Locke’s book The New Negro (1925)—quickly prompted requests for graphics from other writers of the Harlem Renaissance, including Langston Hughes, Charles S. Johnson, Countee Cullen, Wallace Thurman, and James Weldon Johnson. Through this work he attracted the attention of Charlotte Mason
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…commission—to illustrate Alain Locke’s book The New Negro (1925)—quickly prompted requests for graphics from other writers of the Harlem Renaissance, including Langston Hughes, Charles S. Johnson, Countee Cullen, Wallace Thurman, and James Weldon Johnson. Through this work he attracted the attention of Charlotte Mason
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