The "New Negro" in Harlem Renaissance Literature
Think of the New Negro as kind of an early hippie philosophy promising blacks a new self—only without all the flowers, peace signs, and bell-bottoms. In other words, without all the hippie dippy stuff.
Okay, so our initial analogy wasn't great. The primary similarity between the New Negro and the 60s revolutionary is, well, the fact that they were both revolutionary. The New Negro wrote books, organized and marched in protests, and maybe even carried a gun.
He was not a peacenik; rather, he was someone you did not want to mess with. In fact, if the New Negro were transplanted into the 60s-70s, he'd probably be a Black Panther.
If you'd heard of the Harlem Renaissance before today, it was probably in the context of an English course. So we're here to tell you that there was more to this Renaissance than words. Sometimes, there were bullets.
While the Harlem Renaissance was all about the cultural flowering of African-Americans, the New Negro worked to turn the artists' dreams of freedom and equality into reality. In other words, the "New Negro" was the fight to the Renaissance's fancy.
The New Negro Movement wasn't just about black power though. The New Negro was the philosophical core of the Harlem Renaissance, even for writers who weren't down for getting openly violent about it.
The New Negro Movement was about ripping racism out by the jugular and creating a totally new frame of mind for people of that era. The New Negro, above all else, was a black person who was finally able to feel pride in herself, in her race, and in her race's culture.
Chew on This:
Wondering what a New Negro's fight song sounded like? Well, we think our buddy Claude McKay really knew how to stick it to the Man.
Ever wished there were a guy who lived underground in New York City and could tell you all about all the ways he's tried to fight the power? Well, in Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison's protagonist does exactly that. No other novel captures the growing pains of the New Negro quite like Invisible Man does. Bravo, Ellison. Bravo.