Locke and Baldwin analysis

            Alain Locke and Davarian Baldwin both have interesting takes on the African American as the “New Negro”. For Locke, Harlem is the Zion for fleeting southern blacks. He takes an approach similar to that of Marcus Garvey in that he wants the New Negro to draw from their African roots to help define their path.  He also uses the psychology of blacks in relation to their migration form the north to the south to define themselves as new people in the wake of the war. He takes the cause of migration further to say that the move north would repair the psychological damage and warped social perspective (Locke 10). He is saying that the New Negro wishes to be known for whom he is, and not spoken of in a negative light.

            For Baldwin, the new place that Blacks found their place in the renaissance was Chicago. He takes an approach similar to Booker T. Washington in that he gives us numerous accounts of black professionals in the world and how they have carved an economic space for them to thrive in. he mentions people like Jack Johnson, a black boxer who was able to live the way he wanted without racial restrains and Madame C.J. Walker, who made her success through selling cosmetics for blacks, a well needed market that was not previously covered. Baldwin also speaks of the politics of respectability and that Chicago was a place for blacks to fight the negative stereotypes placed on them and thrive in a country where the chips are stacked against them. Locke suggests that it is out of a psychological duty for their minds to be reformed and fixed from the negative stigmas that whites have cause them to believe.

            In terms of art and entrepreneurship, both areas carve out a space for African Americans to have agency over their lives. For example, the black scholar, seer, sage, prophet sings his message; explains why his culture is so rich and firmly planted in the soul of the race (Locke 23). The art illustrates the endeavors that blacks seek in terms of their economic situation and livelihood. Institutions like the Urban League were created to promote the job welfare of blacks and live the dream that was expressed through the arts.