New Negro

by Rebekah Colvin

          The concept of the “New Negro” started around the end of the 1800s during post-Reconstruction. With the release of The New Negro, edited by Alain Locke, it became greatly associated with the Harlem Renaissance, a post World War I literary movement (Kaplan). It was a symbol for black liberation and an idea to campaign equality for black Americans and to put the image and “culture of slavery behind them.” The image of the New Negro was campaigned assertively, to whites and blacks alike, to counteract the stereotype of “The Old Negro.” This “Old Negro” was the image of slavery, inferiority, and low-class citizenship.

          Coming away from slavery, the New Negro would “redeem himself and a fallen America” (Kaplan). The New Negro would no longer passively stand by and take outdated edicts, but instead stand up for his political rights and freedoms. This image, or abstraction, could obtain any occupation he wanted and practice any religion he wished. Instead of wasting his strength and skills fighting against prejudice and racism, he would instead “neglect” it and concentrate his efforts on “improving his skills” to better himself. He would challenge this racism with his intelligence. With the “improvement of skills,” the New Negro would no longer need to rely upon society and organizations, but instead would gain a newfound confidence and strength that will allow him to become a contributor American civilization (Lock). The New Negro would no longer be an inferior “blight” to man and society, but an equal individual that was worthy of being considered an free American (Gates).

          Supporters of this concept were not trying “to reinvent blacks but simply to insert them into meaningful daily life -- not just in the South but throughout the country... As black educator William Pickens noted in 1916, ‘The 'new Negro' is not really new: he is the same Negro under new conditions and subjected to new demands.’" (Kaplan).