Summary

Gates explains the importance of literature in the era of the Harlem Renaissance and the New Negro, and cites African American feminist and journalist Victoria Earle Matthews as one of the first figures to herald its significance. Matthews' ideas were echoed by poet James Weldon Johnson who declared that “nothing will do more to change the mental attitude and raise his status than a demonstration of intellectual parity by the Negro through the production of literature and art” (219).

One of the most critical symbols of this era was Alain Locke's publication of the anthology The New Negro, featuring poetry, fiction, and essays by black writers like Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Gwendolyn B. Bennett, James Weldon Johnson, W.E.B. Du Bois, and many more. This was coupled with a visual arts movement, also championed by Locke, that incorporated traditional African elements and...