New Negro facts for kids
The "New Negro" was a special idea that became popular during the Harlem Renaissance. It described African Americans who were proud and spoke up for their rights. They refused to quietly accept unfair rules and practices, like the Jim Crow laws that separated people based on race. The writer Alain LeRoy Locke helped make this term famous in his book, The New Negro.
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What Was the New Negro?
The idea of the "New Negro" has been around since 1895, but it really took off during the Harlem Renaissance (from 1917 to 1928). This was a time when African Americans gained a stronger voice. They spoke out more loudly than ever before.
Experts like Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Gene Andrew Jarrett say the "New Negro" era lasted from 1892 to 1938. This movement wasn't just in Harlem. It spread internationally, connecting Black people in the United States, France, and the Caribbean.
The New Negro After World War I
After World War I, the "New Negro" idea became very popular. It described African Americans who were ready to defend themselves against violence and unfair treatment.
In August 1920, The Messenger journal wrote about "The New Negro." They said this new kind of Black person would be strong and fight for equal rights. This was different from the "Old Negro," who might have accepted things as they were.
In 1925, Alain LeRoy Locke wrote an important article called "Enter the New Negro." He said the "New Negro" was a sign of a "new democracy in American culture." Locke explained that unfair treatment had made Black people feel bad about themselves. He believed they needed a new way to see themselves. The "New Negro" would fight against stereotypes, build racial pride, and improve the social standing of African Americans.
How the Term "New Negro" Started
The Year 1895
The year 1895 was very important for Black Americans.
- W. E. B. Du Bois began his work as a scholar and civil rights leader.
- Booker T. Washington gave his famous Atlanta Exposition speech.
- Frederick Douglass, a great leader, passed away.
These leaders spoke up during a difficult time, known as the "nadir" of African American history. This period saw nearly 2,000 documented lynchings, which were brutal killings.
The "New Negroes" were often middle-class men and women. They demanded their legal rights as citizens. They also wanted to create new images of themselves to challenge old, unfair stereotypes. This can be seen in newspapers like the Cleveland Gazette in 1895. Books like A New Negro for a New Century (1900) and The New Negro (1916) also showed this idea.
World War I's Impact
For African Americans, World War I showed a big difference. The U.S. said it was fighting for democracy, but Black people at home faced unfair treatment. Many Black farmers in the South were exploited, and those in Northern cities lived in poverty.
African American soldiers faced discrimination in the military. They were not allowed in white training camps. The NAACP helped create separate camps for them. Even then, many Black soldiers were assigned to labor jobs. However, in France, Black soldiers experienced a freedom they had never known in the U.S.
When the war started, African Americans wanted to show their loyalty. But the military only accepted a few Black soldiers at first. As more soldiers were needed, Black Americans were drafted. This was a chance for the "New Negro" to show they deserved equal rights. They were willing to fight for their country to prove it.
Black soldiers were separated from white soldiers. Two divisions were created just for African Americans: the 92nd and 93rd divisions. The 93rd division helped the French Army. Its most famous group was the 369th Infantry, known as the "Harlem Hellfighters." They fought for 191 days, longer than any other American unit. They were the first Americans to receive the Croix de Guerre medal from France.
After the war, racial tensions grew in the United States. Black soldiers had experienced respect in France. They were determined to fight for equal treatment at home. But they found that discrimination was still strong. For example, African American soldier Wilbur Little was killed in Blakely, Georgia, for wearing his uniform in public.
Many African Americans moved to the North, which led to more segregation there. The Ku Klux Klan also grew stronger. All of this caused racial tension and riots in several major cities during the "Red Summer" of 1919.
Because of this unfair treatment, the civil rights movement changed. It moved from Booker T. Washington's idea of accepting things to W.E.B. Du Bois's idea of fighting for rights. This change helped create the New Negro Movement of the 1920s. This movement promoted racial pride, self-expression, economic independence, and progressive politics. For many, World War I marked a shift from the "Old Negro" to the brave "New Negro."
The New Negro Movement
In 1916–17, Hubert Harrison started the New Negro Movement. He created its first organization, The Liberty League, and its first newspaper, The Voice. This movement inspired Harlem and other places. It demanded political equality, an end to segregation and lynching, and even self-defense when needed. Harrison is called the "father of Harlem Radicalism."
The NAACP was important in the "Negro Renaissance," which was the cultural part of the New Negro Movement. Leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, and Jessie Redmon Fauset supported this cultural awakening. They helped with money, artistic guidance, and literature. The NAACP saw this as the first time African Americans truly expressed their culture.
In 1925, Alain LeRoy Locke edited an important book called The New Negro. In it, he compared the "Old Negro" with the "New Negro." He highlighted the new assertiveness and confidence of African Americans after World War I and the Great Migration. Racial pride had been part of Black expression before, but it found new meaning in the art, music, and writing of the Harlem Renaissance.
The "New Negro" idea inspired many different people. An editor wrote in 1920 that this new way of thinking meant that beauty and art did not just belong to white people. It could create "a new racial love, respect and consciousness." African Americans were ready to take charge of their own culture and politics. They no longer wanted to be seen as just a "problem" for others to discuss.
The "New Negroes" of the 1920s included talented poets, novelists, and Blues singers. They created art from Black folk traditions. Black political leaders fought against corruption and for more opportunities. Businessmen worked to build "black metropolises." Others dreamed of a homeland in Africa. All of them wanted to get rid of the old image of being servile and inferior. They wanted to achieve a new image of pride and dignity.
Alain Locke's Vision
Alain LeRoy Locke, a philosophy professor from Harvard, best explained the hopes of the "New Negro." He called himself the "midwife" for young Black writers in the 1920s. His book, The New Negro, published in 1925, showed the changes in the lives of Black people in America.
The book was first a special issue of Survey Graphic magazine in March 1925. It sold 42,000 copies, a huge number for its time. Locke compared the New Negro movement to other movements around the world. He saw similar stirrings of self-determination in places like India, China, and Egypt.
Locke believed that as a "New Negro" emerged, a "new American attitude" was also forming. He thought that working together as a race was very important.
In his book, Locke talked about the "New World" versus the "Old World." He said Harlem was important because it showed a "racial awakening on a national and perhaps even a world scale." Locke wanted to show what African Americans were thinking and feeling. He wanted to redefine the "New Negro."
Locke also discussed the "internal vs. the external negro." He felt that African Americans had been unfairly grouped together. He wanted to show more voices from within the community. He recognized some political progress for Black Americans. But he really wanted to document the uplift and shift from the past of slavery to the psychology behind it. Locke's ideas give a deep understanding of the "New Negro" during the Harlem Renaissance.
Locke believed that the American system could work for African Americans. He saw no problem with being both "American" and "Negro." Instead, he thought it was a chance to make both cultures richer. He reinterpreted W. E. B. Du Bois's idea of "double consciousness" for art and culture.
Locke believed there was room for many different talents to grow together. He also felt that Black artists could learn discipline and style from African art.
W. E. B. Du Bois himself agreed that Locke's "New Negro" idea was important. It showed a rejection of Booker T. Washington's approach. Washington had tried to work with white politicians, but violence against African Americans continued. There was little progress in civil rights or economic opportunities.
Different Views on the New Negro
Not everyone agreed about the "New Negro." Some people had doubts.
Eric D. Walrond, a writer, felt that Black leaders of the time were not doing enough. In 1923, he wrote that the "New Negro" was "race-conscious." This "New Negro" did not want to be like white people. They were realizing their own great potential. Walrond believed the "New Negro" wanted America to see Black people as civilized, not as savages.
By 1929, Wallace Thurman, a young writer, thought the "New Negro" was just a "white American fad" that had already passed. He felt that white and middle-class Black readers were too interested in young Black writers. This made it hard for writers to think and create freely.
In his essay, The Negro Literary Renaissance, Thurman wrote that everyone was excited at first. But then the excitement faded. White people moved on to new fads. Black people were left feeling a bit surprised. They were proud of their achievements but also angry that some writers were not creating "respectable" works.
Thurman's novel, "Infants of the Spring" (1932), made fun of himself and his friends. He said they lacked discipline. He admired Alain Locke's support for young Black writers. But he felt Locke failed to organize them into a strong movement.
Many later experts, like Harold Cruse, thought the "New Negro" idea was politically naive or too optimistic.
Even in 1938, Locke was still defending his views. Critics said he focused too much on the "psychology of the masses" and not enough on solving the "Negro problem." Some, like Gilbert Osofsky, argued that the "New Negro" actually helped create new white stereotypes about Black life. These were different from the old ones, but still not accurate.
Legacy of the New Negro
During the Harlem Renaissance, the "New Negro" idea gave African Americans motivation and ambition. It encouraged them to pursue bigger goals that had once been discouraged.
The term also helped define Black leadership in creative, intellectual, and political areas, both in the U.S. and globally. Leaders of the NAACP and Urban League were suspicious of Marcus Garvey. Garvey, in turn, saw Du Bois as a "dark-skinned white." Yet, all of them believed in some form of Pan-Africanism, a movement to unite Black people worldwide. Alain Locke and Charles S. Johnson believed in mixing Black experiences with American art forms.
In filmmaking, it was rare to see African Americans in movies in the early 1900s. If they were, they often played old stereotypes or criminals. By the middle of the century, the film industry offered more chances. Black actors played more diverse roles in different movie types.
In politics, no African Americans were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives between 1901 and 1928. This changed in 1929 when Oscar Stanton De Priest was elected from Illinois. He represented not just his state, but also the overcoming of oppression and the regained power of African Americans in politics. After the New Negro movement, the average time an African American representative served in office increased from two years to six.
In education, Howard University, a historically Black university, called the post-New Negro movement era "the capstone of Negro education." In the early 1930s, Howard University received over $1 million in federal grants for the first time. It was also the first university to get more than $1 million for a science facility.
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