# Locke, Alain

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Christopher Buck, Locke, Alain, bahai-library.com.
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> 224           Culture, Identity, and Community: From Slavery to the Present
> 
> her mother’s with Glapion (they had at least three children         Long, Carolyn Morrow. A New Orleans Voodou Priestess: The
> and were even listed together in the 1870 census), did much             Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau. Gainesville: University
> Press of Florida, 2006.
> to advance her mother’s legend by producing a widely cited          Ward, Martha. Voodoo Queen: The Spirited Lives of Marie Laveau.
> obituary when Laveau died in 1881. All seem to have lived               Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2004.
> in the vicinity of Laveau’s St. Ann Street home, and some
> census records list Philomene and her children as living
> with Laveau late in the 19th century.
> Some accounts suggest that Laveau used her power to            Locke, Alain
> help the community; select recent biographers depict her
> alternately as an antislavery activist (even though both she        History remembers Alain Locke (1885–1954) as the first
> and Glapion owned slaves), an antipoverty crusader, and a           African American Rhodes Scholar (1907) and, more fa-
> nurse in yellow fever and cholera epidemics. On the other           mously, as the “dean” of the Harlem Renaissance (1919–
> hand, some claim that she used her role mainly for personal         1934). Locke edited The New Negro (1925), acclaimed as
> gain and that she kept a brothel on Lake Pontchartrain that         the “first national book” of African Americans. In this way,
> catered to rich whites. Little direct evidence supports these       Locke’s role is analogous to that of Martin Luther King:
> assertions. Laveau never became wealthy because of her              whereas King championed the civil rights of African Amer-
> role among New Orleans voodooiennes; recent evidence                icans through nonviolent civil disobedience, Locke did so
> suggests that she did not even own the house on St. Ann             through a process known as “civil rights by copyright.”
> Street that she made famous.                                              In the Jim Crow era, when blacks had no effective po-
> Laveau’s youngest daughter Philomene died June 11,             litical recourse, Locke used the arts as a strategy to win the
> 1897, and essentially ended her immediate family’s large-           respect of the white majority and to call to their attention
> scale public promotion of Laveau’s legend—though some               the need to fully democratize democracy and American-
> women who held (and more who claimed) the Laveau name               ize America by extending full equality to all minorities.
> continued to be active in New Orleans. A number of inter-           Recent scholarship has brought Locke back to life, and his
> views conducted by the Louisiana Writers Project contain            philosophy of democracy, in particular, lends him renewed
> stories about Laveau, but two 20th-century figures shaped           importance.
> the modern sense of Laveau most heavily. Zora Neale Hur-                  Harvard, Harlem, Haifa—place names that repre-
> ston spoke in depth on Voodoo culture (and sometimes                sent Locke’s special involvement in philosophy, art, and
> specifically on Laveau) in an extended 1931 article in the          religion—are keys to understanding his life and thought.
> Journal of American Folklore and in her 1935 Mules and              Harvard prepared Locke for distinction as the first black
> Men. Hurston’s depictions—shaped by both her training as            Rhodes Scholar in 1907 and, in 1918, awarded Locke his
> an anthropologist and her deep love of story—are of argu-           PhD in philosophy, thus securing his position as chair of
> able credibility even though they are fascinating and lively;       the Department of Philosophy at Howard University from
> late 20th-century efforts to reconsider Hurston led natu-           1927 until his retirement in 1953. Harlem was the mecca
> rally to additional examination of her work on Voodoo.              of the Harlem Renaissance, whereby Locke, as a spokes-
> Much less trustworthy, much more sensationalistic, and              man for his race, revitalized racial solidarity and fostered
> much more popular when it was released is Robert Tallant’s          the group consciousness among African Americans that
> 1946 Voodoo in New Orleans, which recounts a number of              proved a necessary precondition of the Civil Rights move-
> (highly sexualized) stories of Laveau.                              ment. Haifa is the world center of the Bahá’í Faith, the re-
> See also: Conjure; Hoodoo; Hurston, Zora Neale                      ligion to which Locke converted in 1918, the same year he
> received his doctorate from Harvard. Until recently, this
> Eric Scott Gardner      has been the least understood aspect of Locke’s life. Dur-
> ing the Jim Crow era, at a time when black people saw little
> Bibliography                                                        possibility of interracial harmony, this new religious move-
> Fandrich, Ina Johanna. The Mysterious Voodoo Queen, Marie
> Laveaux: A Study in Powerful Female Leadership in Nineteenth-   ment offered hope through its “race amity” efforts, which
> Century New Orleans. New York: Routledge, 2005.                 Locke was instrumental in organizing. These three spheres
> Locke, Alain           225
> 
> of activity—the academy, the art world, and spiritual soci-          Barton Perry were on the faculty. Elected to Phi Beta
> ety—converge to create a composite picture of Locke as an            Kappa, in 1907 Locke won the Bowdoin Prize—Harvard’s
> integrationist whose model was not assimilation, but rather          most prestigious academic award—for an essay he wrote,
> “unity through diversity” (the title of one of his Bahá’í            “The Literary Heritage of Tennyson.” Remarkably, Locke
> World essays).                                                       completed his four-year undergraduate program at Har-
> Born in 1885, Locke was sent by his mother to one of            vard in only three years, graduating magna cum laude with
> the Ethical Culture schools—a pioneer, experimental pro-             his bachelor’s degree in philosophy. Then, Locke made his-
> gram of Froebelian pedagogy (after Friedrich Froebel [d.             tory and headlines in May 1907 as America’s first African
> 1852], who opened the first kindergarten). By the time he            American Rhodes Scholar. Although his Rhodes scholar-
> enrolled in Central High School (1898–1902), Locke was al-           ship provided for study abroad at Oxford, it was no guaran-
> ready an accomplished pianist and violinist. In 1902, Locke          tee of admission. Rejected by five Oxford colleges because
> attended the Philadelphia School of Pedagogy, graduating             of his race, Locke was finally admitted to Hertford College,
> second in his class in 1904. That year, Locke entered Har-           where studied from 1907 to 1910.
> vard College with honors at entrance, where he was among                  Jewish philosopher Horace Kallen describes a racial
> only a precious few African American undergraduates.                 incident over a Thanksgiving Day dinner hosted at the Amer-
> During the “golden age of philosophy at Harvard,”               ican Club at Oxford. Locke was not invited because South-
> Locke studied at a time when Josiah Royce, William James,            ern men refused to dine with him. Kallen and Locke
> George Herbert Palmer, Hugo Münsterberg, and Ralph                   became lifelong friends. In the course of their conversa-
> tions, the phrase “cultural pluralism” was born. Although
> the term itself was thus coined by Kallen in this historic
> conversation with Locke, it was really Locke who devel-
> oped the concept into a full-blown philosophical frame-
> work for the melioration of African Americans. Distancing
> himself from Kallen’s purist and separatist conception
> of it, Locke was part of the cultural pluralist movement
> that flourished between the 1920s and the 1940s. Indeed,
> Locke has been called the “father of multiculturalism.”
> So acutely did the Thanksgiving Day dinner incident
> traumatize Locke that he left Oxford without taking a de-
> gree and spent the 1910–1911 academic year studying Kant
> at the University of Berlin and touring Eastern Europe as
> well. During his stay in Berlin, where he earned a B.Litt,
> Locke became conversant with the “Austrian school” of an-
> thropology, known as philosophical anthropology, under
> the tutelage of Franz Brentano, Alexius von Meinong,
> Christian Freiherr von Ehrenfels, Paul Natorp, and others.
> Locke much preferred Europe to America. Indeed, there
> were moments when Locke resolved never to return to the
> United States. Reluctantly, he did so in 1911.
> As an assistant professor of the teaching of English
> and an instructor in philosophy and education, Locke
> taught literature, English, education, and ethics—and later,
> ethics and logic—at Howard University itself, although
> he did not have an opportunity to teach a course on phi-
> Alain Locke was a writer, philosopher, educator, and patron of the
> arts. He is best known for his writings on and about the Harlem      losophy until 1915. In 1915–1916, the Howard chapter of
> Renaissance. (National Archives)                                     the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
> 226          Culture, Identity, and Community: From Slavery to the Present
> 
> People (NAACP) and the Social Science Club sponsored a           asked by the editor of the Survey Graphic to produce demo-
> two-year extension course of public lectures, which Locke        graphics on Harlem, which is in the district of Manhattan
> called, “Race Contacts and Inter-Racial Relations: A Study       in New York. That special issue, Harlem, Mecca of the New
> in the Theory and Practice of Race.”                             Negro, Locke subsequently recast as an anthology, The New
> In the 1916–1917 academic year, Locke took a sabbati-      Negro: An Interpretation of Negro Life, published in Decem-
> cal from Howard University to become Austin Teaching             ber 1925. A landmark in black literature, it was an instant
> Fellow at Harvard, where he wrote his 263-page disserta-         success. Locke contributed five essays: the foreword, “The
> tion, The Problem of Classification in [the] Theory of Values,   New Negro,” “Negro Youth Speaks,” “The Negro Spiritu-
> evidently an extension of an earlier essay he had written        als,” and “The Legacy of Ancestral Arts.” The New Negro
> at Oxford. It was Harvard professor of philosophy Josiah         featured five white contributors as well, making this artis-
> Royce who originally inspired Locke’s interest in the phi-       tic tour de force a genuinely interracial collaboration, with
> losophy of value. Of all the major American pragmatists to       much support from white patronage (not without some
> date, only Royce had published a book dealing with rac-          strings attached, however). The last essay was contributed
> ism: Race Questions, Provincialism, and Other American           by W. E. B. Du Bois.
> Problems (1908). In formulating his own theory of value,               Locke hoped the Harlem Renaissance would provide
> Locke synthesized the Austrian school of value theory            “an emancipating vision to America” and would advance “a
> (Franz Brentano, Alexius von Meinong, and later on, Ru-          new democracy in American culture.” He spoke of a “race
> dolf Maria Holzapfel) with American pragmatism (George           pride,” “race genius,” and the “race-gift.” This “race pride”
> Santayana, William James, and Josiah Royce), along with          was to be cultivated through developing a distinctive cul-
> the anthropology of Franz Boas and Kant’s theories of aes-       ture, a hybrid of African and African American elements.
> thetic judgment.                                                 For Locke, art ought to contribute to the improvement of
> When awarded his PhD in philosophy from Harvard            life—a pragmatist aesthetic principle sometimes called
> in 1918, Locke emerged as perhaps the most exquisitely           “meliorism.” But the Harlem Renaissance was more of an
> educated and erudite African American of his generation.         aristocratic than democratic approach to culture. Criti-
> The year 1918 was another milestone in Locke’s life, when        cized by some African American contemporaries, Locke
> he found a “spiritual home” in the Bahá’í Faith, a new world     himself came to regret the Harlem Renaissance’s excesses
> religion whose gospel was the unity of the human race. The       of exhibitionism as well as its elitism. Its dazzling success
> recent discovery of Locke’s signed “Bahá’í Historical Rec-       was short-lived.
> ord” card (1935), in which Locke fixes the date of his con-            Strange to say, Locke did not publish a formal philo-
> version in 1918, restores a “missing dimension” of Locke’s       sophical essay until he was 50. “Values and Imperatives”
> life. Locke was actively involved in the early “race amity”      appeared in 1935. In fact, this was Locke’s only formal
> initiatives sponsored by the Bahá’ís. “Race amity” was the       philosophical work between 1925 and 1939. Apart from his
> Bahá’í term for ideal race relations (interracial unity). The    dissertation, Locke published only four major articles in a
> Bahá’í “race amity” era lasted from 1921 to 1936, followed       philosophy journal or anthology: “Values and Imperatives”
> by the “race unity” period of 1939–1947, with other socially     (1935), “Pluralism and Intellectual Democracy” (1942),
> significant experiments in interracial harmony (such as          “Cultural Relativism and Ideological Peace” (1944), and
> “Race Unity Day”) down to the present. Although he stu-          “Pluralism and Ideological Peace” (1947).
> diously avoided references to the faith in his professional            In 1943, Locke was on leave as Inter-American Ex-
> life, Locke’s four Bahá’í World essays served as his public      change Professor to Haiti under the joint auspices of the
> testimony of faith. But it was not until an article, “Bahá’í     American Committee for Inter-American Artistic and
> Faith: Only Church in World That Does Not Discrimi-              Intellectual Relations and the Haitian Ministry of Educa-
> nate,” appeared in the October 1952 issue of Ebony maga-         tion. Toward the end of his stay there, Haitian president
> zine that Locke’s Bahá’í identity was ever publicized in the     Élie Lescot personally decorated Locke with the National
> popular media.                                                   Order of Honor and Merit, grade of Commandeur. There
> In 1925, the Harlem Renaissance was publicly               Locke wrote Le rôle du Négre dans la culture Américaine,
> launched. It was conceived a year earlier, when Locke was        the nucleus of a grand project that Locke believed would
> Locke, Alain              227
> 
> be his magnum opus. That project, The Negro in American          See also: Du Bois, W. E. B; Harlem Renaissance; New Negro
> Culture, was completed in 1956 by Margaret Just Butcher,         Movement; Woodson, Carter Godwin
> daughter of Howard colleague and close friend Ernest E.
> Just. It is not, however, considered to be an authentic work                                                     Christopher Buck
> of Locke.
> In 1944, Locke became a charter member of the              Bibliography
> Buck, Christopher. “Alain Locke.” In American Writers: A Collec-
> Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion, which                 tion of Literary Biographies, ed. Jay Parini. Farmington Hills,
> published its annual proceedings. During the 1945–1946                MI: Scribner’s Reference/Gale Group, 2004.
> academic year, Locke was a visiting professor at the Univer-     Buck, Christopher. “Alain Locke: Baha’i Philosopher.” Baha’i Stud-
> ies Review 10 (2001/2002):7–49.
> sity of Wisconsin, and in 1947, he was a visiting professor      Buck, Christopher. Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy. Los Ange-
> at the New School for Social Research. For the 1946–1947              les: Kalimát Press, 2005.
> term, Locke was elected president of the American Associ-        Buck, Christopher. “Alain Locke and Cultural Pluralism.” In Search
> for Values: Ethics in Baha’i Thought, ed. Seena Fazel and John
> ation for Adult Education (AAAE), as the first black presi-
> Danesh. Los Angeles: Kalimát Press, 2004.
> dent of a predominantly white institution. His reputation        Harris, Leonard, ed. The Philosophy of Alain Locke: Harlem Renais-
> as a leader in adult education had already been established           sance and Beyond. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989.
> Kallen, Horace Meyer. “Alain Locke and Cultural Pluralism.” Jour-
> by the nine-volume Bronze Booklet series that he had ed-
> nal of Philosophy 54, no. 5 (1957):119–27. Reprinted in Kal-
> ited, two volumes of which he had personally authored as              len, What I Believe and Why—Maybe: Essays for the Modern
> well.                                                                 World. New York: Horizon Press, 1971.
> Locke, Alain. The Negro and His Music. Washington, D.C.: Associ-
> He moved to New York in July 1953. For practically
> ates in Negro Folk Education, 1936. (Bronze Booklet No. 2).
> his entire life, Locke had sought treatment for his rheu-        Locke, Alain. The Negro Art: Past and Present. Washington, D.C.:
> matic heart. Locke died of heart failure on June 9, 1954, in          Associates in Negro Folk Education, 1936. (Bronze Booklet
> Mount Sinai Hospital. On June 11 at Benta’s Chapel, Brook-            No. 3).
> Locke, Alain. “Negro Spirituals.” Freedom: A Concert in Celebra-
> lyn, Locke’s memorial was presided over by Dr. Channing               tion of the 75th Anniversary of the Thirteenth Amendment to
> Tobias, with cremation following at Fresh Pond Crematory              the Constitution of the United States (1940). Compact disc.
> in Little Village, Long Island.                                       New York: Bridge, 2002. Audio (1:14).
> Locke, Alain, ed. The New Negro: An Interpretation. New York: A.
> As a cultural pluralist, Locke may have a renewed im-           & C. Boni, 1925. Reprint, New York, Simon & Schuster, 1927;
> portance as a social philosopher, particularly as a philos-           New York: Touchstone, 1999.
> opher of democracy. Because Locke was not a systematic           Locke, Alain. Race Contacts and Interracial Relations: Lectures of
> the Theory and Practice of Race. Ed. Jeffery C. Stewart. Re-
> philosopher, however, it is necessary to systematize his phi-         print. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1992.
> losophy in order to bring its deep structure into bold relief.   Locke, Alain. “The Unfinished Business of Democracy.” Survey
> Democracy is a process of progressive equalizing.               Graphic 31 (November 1942):455–61.
> Locke, Alain. “Values and Imperatives.” In American Philosophy,
> It is a matter of degree. For blacks, American democracy              Today and Tomorrow, ed. Sidney Hook and Horace M. Kal-
> was largely a source of oppression, not liberation. America’s         len. New York: Lee Furman, 1935. Reprint, Freeport, NY:
> racial crisis was not just national—it was a problem of               Books for Libraries Press, 1968.
> Locke, Alain. Le rôle du Négre dans la culture Américaine. Port-au-
> world-historical proportions. As a cultural pluralist, Alain
> Prince: Haiti Imprimerie de l’état, 1943.
> Locke sought to further Americanize Americanism and              Locke, Alain, and Montgomery Davis, eds. Plays of Negro Life: A
> further democratize democracy. In so doing, he proposed               Source-Book of Native American Drama. New York: Harper
> and Row, 1927.
> a multidimensional model of democracy that ranged from
> Locke, Alain, Mordecai Johnson, Doxey Wilkerson, and Leon
> concepts of “local democracy” all the way up to “world                Ransom. “Is There a Basis for Spiritual Unity in the World
> democracy.” This multidimensional typology is developed               Today?” Town Meeting: Bulletin of America’s Town Meeting
> on the Air 8, no. 5 (1942):3–12.
> further in the penultimate chapter of Christopher Buck’s
> Locke, Alain, and Bernhard J. Stern, eds. When Peoples Meet: A
> Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy (2005). We know that                Study of Race and Culture Contacts. New York: Committee
> Alain Locke was important. If his philosophy of democracy             on Workshops, Progressive Education Association, 1942.
> has any merit, we know now that is Locke is important,           Mason, Ernest. “Alain Locke’s Social Philosophy.” World Order 13,
> no. 2 (Winter 1979):25–34.
> especially if it is time to transform democratic values into     Washington, Johnny. Alain Locke and Philosophy: A Quest for Cul-
> democratic imperatives.                                               tural Pluralism. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986.
>
> — *Locke, Alain (Used by permission of the curator)*