Alain Locke

#AlainLeroyLocke (September 13, 1885 – June 9, 1954): Known as the #FatherOfTheHarlemRenaissance and first African American #RhodesScholar, Locke was a writer, philosopher, educator, and patron of the arts. Born and raised in Philadelphia, his family descended from a long line of free African American people in the times of slavery; his father was the first Black employee of the #UnitedStatesPostalService and his mother was a teacher (which definitely inspired Locke’s thirst for knowledge and passion for education). After facing racial discrimination at #Oxford yet attaining his degree, he became an assistant professor in English at #HowardUniversity in 1912. After earning his PhD, Locke began teaching philosophy and courses on race relations – leading to his dismissal in 1925. At this time he served as a guest editor into what became #TheNewNegro, a collection of writings by African Americans, in which he contributed five essays. He was reinstated to teach at Howard in 1928, and taught there until his retirement in 1953. During this time, he mentored popular writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance (and others) and aimed to raise overall awareness in pride in being Black as well as in seeing the necessity for self-confidence in their Blackness to be able to utilize political power – which ultimately became the early days of the #CivilRightsMovement. Locke himself was homosexual, and is believed to have supported lesbian, gay, and bisexual writers and artists during the Harlem Renaissance, though he was never public about his sexuality (which he described as his “vulnerability/invulnerability”). Upon retirement from Howard, he moved to New York City. In 1954, after a six-week fight with heart disease, Locke died. On remembering Locke in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “We’re going to let our children know that the only philosophers that lived were not Plato and Aristotle, but W. E. B. DuBois and Alain Locke came through the universe.” #PrideMonth #LGBTQIA #LGBTQIAPride #Pride #LegendsOfPride #YouCannotEraseUs