Fun Facts Friday: Alain Locke

Alain Locke (13 September, 1885 – 9 June, 1954) was a writer, educator, philosopher and a a leading African-American intellectual hailing from Philadelphia, PA.

1. Born as Alain Leroy Locke in Philadelphia, PA, he was the only child and a decedent of prominent families of free blacks.
2. Pliny Ishmael Locke, the writer’s father, was the first African-American employee of the U.S. Postal Service.
3. In 1907 Mr. Locke graduated from https://www.harvard.edu majoring in English and philosophy. He was also the recipient of the Bowdoin Prize.
4. He was the first African-American selected as a Rhodes Scholar. Shamefully, several Rhodes Scholars from the American South refused to live in the same college and attend events with Mr. Locke.
5. Mr. Locke studied Latin, Greek, literature, and philosophy in Hertford College, Oxford and philosophy at the University of Berlin.
6. In 1912 Mr. Locke became an assistant professor in English at Howard University in Washington DC.
7. Mr. Locke’s academic career would
8. Eventually Mr. Locke because the chair of the department of philosophy in Howard.
9. Mr. Locke has been widely regarded as the originator of the New Negro Movement and the Harlem Renaissance.
10. To this day, the main building for the College of Arts and Sciences at Howard University is called Locke Hall, and there are at least 5 schools around the United States named after him.