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Alain Leroy Locke is recognized as one of the leading Black philosophers and educators, and was instrumental in bringing attention to the Harlem Renaissance. Among Locke’s many achievements, one of his most notable is he being the first African-American awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.

Born in Philadelphia, Pa. on September 13, 1866, Locke was a top student at Central High School. After graduation second in his class in 1092, he attended the Philadelphia School of Pedagogy before attending Harvard University. Locke graduated from Harvard with degrees in literature and philosophy. Locke was clearly brilliant, but race was a factor in his lack of grander opportunity.

Even after being selected as a Rhodes Scholar, many of the colleges at the University of Oxford denied him entry. He was able to enter Hertford College, studying from 1907 to 1910. While studying abroad, he also studied philosophy at the University of Berlin. Locke taught English at Howard University ahead of returning to Harvard to complete his graduate studies.

Graduating with a doctorate in Philosophy in 1918, Locke returned to Howard as the chair of the school’s Department of Philosophy. He remained there until his retirement in 1953. Locke was well-known among the African-American cultural elite for his desire to see Black artists and writers look to Africa for inspiration. Locke supported the development and spread of the Harlem Renaissance via a series of writings, and was an avid supporter of authors such as Zora Neale Hurston among others.

Locke was consistent in his encouragement of Black scholars, reviewing their work in the academic journals “Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life,” and “Phylon.” Locke’s collection of writings on the African and African-American identity, “The New Negro,” was published in 1925 and is considered a literary classic.

Locke has been dubbed by some as the “Father of the Harlem Renaissance,” and often seen as an opponent of other leaders of that movement. W.E.B. Du Bois, a friend of Locke, voiced the idea that Black artists should uplift their race as a collective while Locke often focused on the individual’s efforts alone. Locke died on June 9, 1954 in New York City.

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