29 Facts About Alain Locke

Alain LeRoy Locke was an American writer, philosopher, educator, and patron of the arts.

Alain Locke is frequently included in listings of influential African Americans.

Alain Locke's father was the first black employee of the U S Postal Service, and his paternal grandfather taught at Philadelphia's Institute for Colored Youth.

Alain Locke's mother Mary was a teacher and inspired Locke's passion for education and literature.

In 1902, Alain Locke graduated from Central High School in Philadelphia, second in his 107th class in the academic institution.

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In 1907, Alain Locke graduated from Harvard University with degrees in English and philosophy; he was honored as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and recipient of the Bowdoin prize.

Alain Locke wrote from Oxford in 1910 that the "primary aim and obligation" of a Rhodes Scholar.

Alain Locke received an assistant professorship in English at Howard University in 1912.

Alain Locke returned to Harvard in 1916 to work on his doctoral dissertation, The Problem of Classification in the Theory of Value.

Alain Locke returned to Howard University as the chair of the department of philosophy.

Alain Locke continued to teach generations of students at Howard until he retired in 1953.

Alain Locke encouraged them to explore Africa and its many cultures as inspiration for their works.

Alain Locke encouraged them to depict African and African-American subjects, and to draw on their history for subject material.

Alain Locke was the guest editor of the March 1925 issue of the periodical Survey Graphic, for a special edition titled "Harlem, Mecca of the New Negro": about Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance, which helped educate white readers about its flourishing culture.

Alain Locke raised overall awareness of potential black equality; he said that no longer would blacks allow themselves to adjust or comply with unreasonable white requests.

One author whose work Alain Locke edited for both Survey Graphic as well as The New Negro was art collector, critic, and theorist Albert Barnes.

Barnes and Alain Locke were connected in their shared views on the importance of Negro art in America.

Alain Locke argued for the primacy of craft objects and the visual tradition as being the greatest contributor of black art to the American canon.

The commonalities between the two men's' stance on black art led Barnes to believe Alain Locke was stealing his ideas, creating a rift between the two men.

Alain Locke identified himself as a Baha'i throughout the last half of his life .

Alain Locke declared his belief in Baha'u'llah in the year 1918.

However, the National Baha'i Archives discovered a "Baha'i Historical Record" card that Alain Locke completed in 1935 for a Baha'i census from the National Spiritual Assembly.

Alain Locke was one of seven African-American members from the Washington, D C Baha'i movement to complete the card.

When ?Abdu'l-Baha died in 1921, Alain Locke enjoyed a close relationship with Shoghi Effendi, then head of the Baha'i Faith.

Alain Locke was cremated, and his remains given to Dr Arthur Fauset, Alain Locke's close friend and executor of his estate.

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Alain Locke was an anthropologist who was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance.

Howard University officials initially considered having Alain Locke's ashes buried in a niche at Alain Locke Hall on the Howard campus, as Langston Hughes's ashes had been interred in 1991 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City.

University officials eventually decided to bury Alain Locke's remains at historic Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC.

Alain Locke regularly published reviews of poetry and literature by African Americans in journals such as Opportunity and Phylon.