Read Alaine Locke's definition of the "New Negro" and address the blog prompt below in preparation for our viewing of "The Great Debators." Find the article here: us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/pdocs/locke_new.pdf.
How is the "New Negro" different than the "Old Negro?" (1 paragraph)
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How is the "New Negro" different than the "Old Negro"?
The old negro was more of a belief to people instead of really being an actual man and human being.The old negro also is more of a figure to be dicussed rather than him actually being real and being instead of human, the old negro is more of a "formula". Also, the old negro is like being someone who is told what to do and how to be unlike the new negro who is more independent and acts and dress in their own way. The new negro is more modern while the old negro is known for being more traditional and singing hymns and folksongs and dressing more traditionally.The new negro also, is more into the new democracy of the new American culture and more understanding to new social events in America. That is the difference between the new and old negro.
The term the "New Negro" comes from the Harlem Renaissance era, and this term was used by African Americans, who wanted to be looked upon in a different way. During this time African Americans wanted to be respected, granted "Equal" rights/opportunities, and scene as leaders. Even though Blacks were granted "Equal" rights, they were still prohibited to do or attend certain places and activities such as working in the Cotton Club. The "New Negro" has a new attitude towards things, their not going to stand and take this unfair treatment anymore. In the passage, Alain Locke's explains the "Old Negro" as being more of a myth than an actually person. Alain says that the "Old Negro" was something that America looked down upon"; basically saying that the "Old Negro" didn't have a voice nor power. As Alain states, "With this renewed self-respect and self-dependence, the life of the Negro community is
bound to enter a new dynamic phase, the buoyancy from within compensating for whatever
pressure there may be of conditions from without. " This sentence showed that the "New Negro" has this new self-image,style, and a voice.
In comparison to the "New Negro", the "Old Negro" was considered a controversy. Locke states that the old negro is more of a myth than a man. The old negro also seems to still have the "slave mentality" and portrayed as a man who can not think or do for himself. The old negro is also a man who is considered to be plain and boring. While the new negro is a man with style, independence, and a mind of his own. "Locke saw no conflict between being "American" and being "Negro," but rather an opportunity to enrich both through cultural reciprocity". Meaning that the "New Negro" was an American just as the next man. The new negro was a trendsetter and a leader, while the old negro was more reserved and laiback.
According to Alain Locke, the “Old Negro was a creature of moral debate and historical controversy” whereas the “New Negro” is a rebirth of self-respect and self-dependence within the Blacks community. The Old Negro were blacks that lived before the reconstruction era, whom Alaine Locke described as a “formula” which can only respond to commands. However, after the Reconstruction and Civil Rights movement, a new form of Negro was born. And in this case, it is the “New Negro”; they were seen as heroic and determined when it comes to standing up for their rights and equality.
The Old Negro and the New Negro is the Old Negro was a creature of morals debate and historical controversy. The Old Negro became more of a myth than a man.. In Harlem as an instance of this in Manhattan is not merely the largest Negro community in the world, but the first concentration in history of so many diverse elements of Negro life. It has attracted the African, the West Indian, and the Negro American.It was a social disservice to blunt the fact that the Negro of the Northern centers has reached a stage where tutelage, even of the most interested and well-intentioned sort, must give place to new relationships, where positive self-direction must be reckoned with in ever increasing measure.
The New Negro is different from the Old Negro because the New Negro has created a new image for itself in soceity. The Old Negro was looked at as more of an animal than a human being, a problem such as global warming than of an actual living breathing person. So here was where the New Negro came in. It slowly but noticably shattered all false stereotypes against it's race and showed the world "hey, I'm a person too!". The New Negro moved into society through music, art, writing, education and so much more. The New Negro rose above the expectations that the whites had placed upon them over 200 hundred years and who looked at the blacks progress with nonchalant but secretly dumbfounded attitudes. But could you blame them? To them, it was like a wild animal became Albert Einstein. You'd never know that a dirty rock is actual diamond unitl you dust it off.
The term the "New Negro" was a term used during the Harlem Reinassance era by African Americans trying to make an image for themselves. The "New Negro" image consisted of an educated, talented and hardworking African American who was striving for success in the white dominant world. As quoted in Lockes writing "The Old Negro, we must remember, was a creature of moral debate and historical controversy. His has been a stock figure perpetuated as an historical fiction partly in innocent sentimentalism, partly in deliberate reactionism. " meaning the term "Old Negro" was a myth and caused controversy. While the "Old Negro" and the "New Negro" differed greatly one difference that often stuck out was the the term "Old Negro" defined a plain man of the past who lacked excitement while the "New Negro" was a man of the new era, making an image for himself with class, style and motivation.
Based on Alain Locke, the "Old Negro" was just a creature, not even a human being. The "Old Negro" was just a fantasy of what people believe the blacks were which were slaves. The "New Negro" transformed to "blend" in with the people today. The "New Negro" is now one who knows how to stand on their own ground, and to relate to the Americans now. The "New Negro" knew what to do, and how to blend in with the Americans.
During the 1920s the term "new negro" meant that the African American race was a new image of what they were before which was the "Old Negro". The new negro is an african american who can stand his ground. That can stand his ground, has integrity, and above all has a certain look to himself that can be seen as a whole new race, a person that can think for himself. This is what Alain Locke described the new negro as. He also described what an "old negro meant to him. He says, "o for generations in the mind of America, the Negro has been more of a formula than a human being—a something to be argued about, condemned or defended, to be "kept down," or "in his place," or "'helped up," to be worried with or worried over, harassed or patronized, a social bogey or a social burden". Locke is describing the old negro as someone not even human, just a formula in the minds of the majority race in America.
How is the "New Negro" different than the "Old Negro"?
The "New Negro" was a term to help blacks find there courage. It gave them the confidence to do things that the white man told them they couldn't do. For instance, go to college , get a career , and raise a family in a house that's not on a cotton picking farm. This made them ask for things that they never had , such as equal rights, voting rights, and desegregation. The "old negro" didn't have the courage and confidence that the new negro had they were quite and sitting in the corner as whites dictated there lives away. That is the difference between a new negro and an old negro.
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