"In the last decade something beyond the watch and guard of statistics has happened in the life of the American Negro and the three norns who have traditionally presided over the Negro problem have a changeling in their laps. The Sociologist, the Philanthropist, the Race-leader are not aware of the New Negro, but they are at a loss to account for him. He simply cannot be swathed in their formulae. For the younger generation is vibrant with a new psychology; the new spirit is awake in the masses, and under the weary eyes of the professional observers is transforming what has been a perennial problem into the progressive phases of contemporary Negro life".
-Alaine Locke,
"The New Negro"
Alaine Locke was considered the elder statesman of the Harlem Renaissance. He was the first Black to earn a Rhodes scholarship (1907). In 1912 Locke joined the faculty of Howard University after earning degrees at Harvard and Oxford. He served as editor for the ground breaking anthology The New Negro which contains his essay of the same name.