In the essay Alain Locke’s ideas of “ The new Negro” during the period of the Harlem Renaissance,how the New Negro has come to be, as well as how he is beginning to fit in more with modern society. Where he says that the heart of the “American Negro” is locate in Harlem, New York. He says that the black community had change over the years. “the new spirit is awake in the masses, and under the very eyes of the professional observers is transforming what has been a perennial problem into the progressive phases of contemporary Negro life”. Locke refers to Harlem as "the home of the Negro's ‘Zionism’”. Alain Locke believed that the new African American did not just appear overnight, instead slowly crept up from the side unwatched and took civilization
In the article, “A Letter My Son,” Ta-Nehisi Coates utilizes both ethical and pathetic appeal to address his audience in a personable manner. The purpose of this article is to enlighten the audience, and in particular his son, on what it looks like, feels like, and means to be encompassed in his black body through a series of personal anecdotes and self-reflection on what it means to be black. In comparison, Coates goes a step further and analyzes how a black body moves and is perceived in a world that is centered on whiteness. This is established in the first half of the text when the author states that,“white America’s progress, or rather the progress of those Americans who believe that they are white, was built on looting and violence,”
The thing that I consider most interesting about this article is Alan Locke’s comparison of the old Negro vs. the new Negro. He pictures the old Negro as put together, they had life set up a certain way there was nothing new and exciting about it. In his description of the new Negro he uses words such as radical and new psychology. He mentioned
There are many contradictions pertaining to slavery, which lasted for approximately 245 years. In Woody Holton’s “Black Americans in the Revolutionary Era”, Holton points out the multiple instances where one would find discrepancies that lie in the interests of slaveowners, noble figures, and slaves that lived throughout the United States. Holton exemplifies this hostility in forms of documents that further specify and support his claim.
“Black Awakening in Capitalist America”, Robert Allen’s critical analysis of the structure of the U.S.’s capitalist system, and his views of the manner in which it exploits and feeds on the cultures, societies, and economies of less influential peoples to satiate its ever growing series of needs and base desires. From a rhetorical analysis perspective, Allen describes and supports the evidence he sees for the theory of neocolonialism, and what he sees as the black people’s place within an imperial society where the power of white influence reigns supreme. Placing the gains and losses of the black people under his magnifying glass, Allen describes how he sees the ongoing condition of black people as an inevitable occurrence in the spinning cogs of the capitalist machine.
The transition of being a black man in a time just after slavery was a hard one. A black man had to prove himself at the same time had to come to terms with the fact that he would never amount to much in a white dominated country. Some young black men did actually make it but it was a long and bitter road. Most young men fell into the same trappings as the narrator’s brother. Times were hard and most young boys growing up in Harlem were swept off their feet by the onslaught of change. For American blacks in the middle of the twentieth century, racism is another of the dark forces of destruction and meaninglessness which must be endured. Beauty, joy, triumph, security, suffering, and sorrow are all creations of community, especially of family and family-like groups. They are temporary havens from the world''s trouble, and they are also the meanings of human life.
However, I have to say that I sided more with Du Bois Ideology and I will explain why. It has been decades since these philosophers started to fight social injustice and racial discrimination and until these days little to no change have been made. We see things like police brutality, where the life of a “black’ person is less valuable that a “white” one. We see massive incarceration of African American man for committing minor crimes and a “white” man that massacres a multitude is not a criminal but a “poor” mental ill person. I believe that no matter how hard we fight racism and social injustice it is always going to be present in our society no matter what. If we have segregated schools with equal resources distributed at least we’re going to make sure that African Americans are receiving the proper education they deserve. Moreover, Locke’s idea of “The New Negro” where he thinks that by African Americans redefining themselves and becoming new people is going to fix the racial problem is not realistic. No matter how educated African American get, they are still not recognized as the intellectual race that they are. Art and poetry is not going to make African Americans be accepted in this racist society. No matter how hard and educated African Americans get, they’re still making less money that “white” people. Locke mas a more universal philosophy where he
During the Harlem Renaissance period, Alain Locke considers African Americans as transforming into someone “new.” He describes how African Americans migrated from the south to the north and were given new opportunities. The old Negro was being taken away from constantly being scrutinized by the public and whites. The Negros transformed into stronger intellectuals which was significant because before they weren’t allowed to do so. For example, “Similarly the mind of the Negro slipped from under the tyranny of social intimidation and to be shaking off the imitation and implied inferiority.” The “new” Negro strived for equal rights. Alain Locke describes other factors that pushed African Americans to move north to discover a “rebirth.” The “new” Negro went north to obtain the opportunity to move up from the bottom, to get away from the Ku Klux Klan, and to get away from the pressure of having to many poor crops. For instance, he says “The wash and rush of this human tide on the beach line of the northern city centers is to be explained primarily in terms of a new vision of opportunity, of social and economic freedom, of a spirit to seize, even in the face of an extortionate and heavy toll, a chance for the improvement of conditions.” By moving North the African Americans had a chance to live a better life and were set free of depending on the whites to take care of them in exchange for their labor. He also believes that the Negro began to experience something “new” by the way they began to understand and accept the Negro race. For example, Locke says, “With this renewed self- respect and self-dependence, the life of the negro community is bound to enter a new dynamic phase, the buoyancy from within compensating for whatever pressure there may be conditions from without.” The “new” then recognized the ability to become independent, which was a significant role of the “new” Negro because by gaining independence they then discover a life for themselves.
In his book “Between the World and Me”, Ta-Nehisi Coates explores what it means to be a black body living in the white world of the United States. Fashioned as a letter to his son, the book recounts Coates’ own experiences as a black man as well as his observations of the present and past treatment of the black body in the United States. Weaving together history, present, and personal, Coates ruminates about how to live in a black body in the United States. It is the wisdom that Coates finds within his own quest of self-discovery that Coates imparts to his son.
Present-day debates over racial issues are often viewed on television or in everyday life. When considering The Souls of Black Folk, the readers in the Twentieth-Century America can draw direct parallels to events, stories, and the stories of those in the past to today. The chapter "Of the Coming Of John" helps us interpret the present inequities in educational opportunities. There is also resentment for affirmative action that has been spoken by the dominant white male that reflects the court decision on affirmative action of modern time. The reader can contemplate the passage of Du Bois' essay to substitute the words "colored" and "Negro" with African-American, Nigger, illegal alien, Mexican, inner-city dwellers, and other meanings that articulate people that are not listed as a majority.
The third reason that leads to the criticism on his book is his his ignorance of making effort to seeking for the answer for race instead questioning it. As mentioned in the text, “Locke, on the other hand, although unhappy with the Howard administration, had done almost nothing to foment change except to read and reflect on the question of the meaning of race in the twentieth century (Rampersad xii). His unclear answer to race makes looks over the the existence of the blues that it became an important part of the entertainment that Africans succeed in.
Alain Leroy Locke was born to S. Pliny and Mary Hawkins Locke on October 13, 1886 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were both teachers. Alain Locke’s father died when he was six years old, and his mother raised him alone. “She was determined that he receive the best education” (Hardy 34). He did receive what his mother wanted. He earned a scholarship to Harvard University and in 1907, graduated magna cum laude in philosophy. That same year he became the first African American to win a Rhodes scholarship, which allowed him to continue studying in Oxford, England. He studied at Oxford from 1907 to 1910 and then went to University of Berlin from 1910-1911. Locke received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University in 1918.
Alain Locke’s support of the New Negro Movement helped convince African Americans to move away from the propagandistic ph...
The ending of “The Locket” is very predictable. With careful analysis, any reader should be able to easily guess the ending before actually reading it. From the start to the end, clues are constantly given about the ending. As the story opens, soldiers were questioning Edmond about the locket and showed great interest in it. Also, when a soldier was found dead with the locket, the story never actually said the dead body was Edmond. Finally, many foreshadowing clues are given when Octavia talks to her friend the judge. Hence, the ending of the story is predictable because other soldiers clearly valued the locket, the story never said the dead body was Edmond, and the judge directly suggests to Octavia that Edmond will come back.
The conclusion of “The Locket” was not predictable and I was surprised that Edmund turned up alive after all and that the locket was stolen. I was surprised because the priest takes the locket off a dead soldier who he thinks is Edmund, Octavie mourns Edmund, also thinking he is dead, and finally, when the judge is telling Octavie to stop being sad, it seems as though he is telling her to move on with her life. It seems as though the rest of the story will be about how Octavie recovers from her sadness because of Edmund’s death.
The idea of personhood/personal identity surely varies from philosopher to philosopher, and even from non-philosophical persons to others. Ifeanyi A. Menkiti and John Locke are philosophers from very different time periods, Menkiti from the 1900’s and Locke from the mid 1600s. This gap in time may lead one to believe that their beliefs about personal identity are just as separate-- that if they were to talk to each other, they would simply be talking past each other on completely different paths of thinking. This however, is not entirely true. At face value, one may believe Menkiti’s emphasis on the community over the individual regarding personal identity is the opposite of Locke’s view that focuses on the individual.