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MAIN LOCKE Alain LeRo y Locke was born to schoolteacher parent s on 1 3 September 1886 i n Philadelphia , wher e h e attende d Centra l Hig h Schoo l an d th e Philadelphia School of Pedagogy. A member of the Harvard class of 1908, he completed his requirements in three years, and received his A.B. magna cum laude in 1907 , also winning the to p Bowdoi n Priz e fo r a n essay on Tennyson as well as election to Phi Beta Kappa. H e became the first and, until 1963 , only black American t o win a Rhodes scholarship t o Oxford, from which he took a Litt.B. degree in 1912. In 191 8 h e became-nafte r W.E.B . D u Boi s an d historia n Carte r G . Woodson—the thir d blac k recipien t o f a Harvar d Ph.D . degree , wit h a dissertation in philosophy on the theory of value. H e had in 1912, after a year's stud y at th e Universit y o f Berlin , already begun teachin g English, education, and then philosophy at Howard University, where he was also instrumental i n establishin g a dram a program , ar t gallery , an d literar y magazine. Bes t known for his writing on literature, he was the godfather of the so-called Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. H e also wrote extensively on the fine arts (including those of Africa) and on music (he was a trained classical pianist). A t the time Du Bois termed him"by long odds the best trained man among the younger American Negroes." In mid-career Locke acknowledged his debt to Harvard, where"I was exposed to the Golden Age of liberalism and deeply influenced by Barrett Wendell, Copeland, Briggs and Baker, shed the Tory restraints for urbanity and humanism, and under the spell of Royce, James, Palmer, and Santayana, gave up Puritan provincialism for critical-mindedness and cosmopolitanism." Locke spok e of hi s "not regretted vocation— a decen t livelihoo d teachin g philosophy; and . .. a n avocation o f mid-wifer y t o younger Negr o poets, writers and artists. . .. I am sure it has all been due to Harvard, at least what there has been creditable and productive." In February o f 1942 , the Harvar d chapte r o f Ph i Delt a Kapp a (th e national fraternit y i n professional education) , whose constitution forbad e non-white members, demonstrated its disgust with this exclusionary policy by invitin g Lock e t o giv e a n address , "Democrac y Face s a Ne w Worl d Order." Later that year Locke was one of twelve blacks named in the Honor 130 Alain Locke Roll o f Rac e Relations . H e continue d teachin g a t Howar d unti l hear t trouble forced his retirement in 1953. H e died in New York City on 9 June 1954, leaving his partly written magnum opus to be completed and published by a colleague' s devote d daughter , Margare t Jus t Butcher— The Negro in American Culture (1956; 2nd ed. 1972). Two Letters fro m Harvar d [7 December 1905 ] My dear Mamma : Don't blame the postman and the postal service for this delay—for God know s thei r soul s ar e blac k with enough guilt—bu t thi s dela y is mine, partly carelessness and partly work. A s usual I shall try to make it up . Well , on e piec e o f goo d news— I hav e pai d th e entir e $9 0 tuition s o that' s of f ou r hands . $5 0 I ha d o n han d a s I tol d you . I went t o Dea n Hurlbu t [Byro n S. Hurlbut, Dean o f Harvard College , 1902-16] and got $40 of my scholarship money so that's paid, an d we have nothin g mor e t o pa y th e universit y unti l th e ter m bil l o n February 10th . I a m very gla d a s i t tide s u s ove r th e critica l Xma s period ver y nicely . Besides , I go t m y invitatio n t o th e Awar d o f Academic...

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