critics agree it is a work of immense social impor-
tance on an issue that can no longer be ignored.
In the 12 essays, the contributors—prominent
academicians, activists, social critics, a congress-
man, writers, and a former New York City police
detective, all of whom have suffered at the hands
of police or personally know others who have been
maimed or killed by police—attempt to trace the
roots of police brutality in African-American com-
munities and to determine its profound influence
in shaping American identity.
Nelson’s work has appeared in numerous pub-
lications, including The New York Times, ESSENCE,
The Washington Post, The Nation, Ms., The Chicago
Tribune, Village Voice, New York Review of Books,
USA Today, MSNBC.com, and NiaOnline.com.
She also writes a twice-monthly column titled “On
the Verge,” lectures extensively throughout the
country, and is active in the Harlem community.
Though Nelson is more established as a journal-
ist than as a memoirist or novelist, her small body
of work has attracted the attention of such writers
as ISHMAEL REED, PEARL CLEAGE, TERRY MCMILLAN,
and E. LYNN HARRIS. Together, they agree that Nel-
son is one of the boldest, most honest writers in
contemporary African-American literature, who
puts her message in a much-needed historical and
intellectual context.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Review of Jill Nelson’s Sexual Healing. Publishers
Weekly (May 12, 2003): 44.
Nelson, Jill. “Serpent’s Tail Interviews: Jill Nelson.”
Available online. http://www.serpentstail.com.
Accessed May 10, 2007.
“Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience. An
Excerpt from Washington Post Writer Jill Nelson’s
New Book.” Essence 24, no. 2 (June 1993): 82.
Loretta G. Woodard
New Negro, The: An Interpretation
Alain Locke, ed. (1925)
Edited by ALAIN LOCKE, a Harvard graduate and
dean of the College of Humanities at Howard
University, The New Negro: An Interpretation, was
originally published in 1925; it was reissued in
1968 with a preface by ROBERT HAYDEN. The an-
thology, which grew out of a special edition of
Survey Graphic magazine, also edited by Locke,
became, as Hayden noted, “the definitive presen-
tation of the artistic and social goals of the New
Negro movement” (ix)—its manifesto. In his now-
classic introductory essay, “The New Negro,” Locke
boldly demanded that “the Negro of today be seen
through other than the dusty spectacles of past
controversy” (5). He further maintained that “the
mind of the Negro seems suddenly to have slipped
from under the tyranny of social intimidation and
to be shaking off the psychology of imitation and
implied inferiority” (4).
Locke believed that the younger contribut-
ing writers and artists would guide the HARLEM
RENAISSANCE by rediscovering and reimagining
African arts and music, particularly jazz and the
Negro spirituals. Locke’s vision is integrationist; it
is driven by an effort to show the black community
the value of their contributions and thereby en-
courage black people to participate in white soci-
ety and culture as equals. Simultaneously, however,
Locke emphasized the need for blacks to embrace
their African roots for inspiration in music and
art, creating a black aesthetic that would be a valu-
able addition to American identity rather than a
separating force. This is the argument and per-
spective found in several essays, including Arthur
A. Schomburg’s “The Negro Digs Up His Past” and
Locke’s “The Legacy of the Ancestral Art” and “The
Negro Spirituals.”
The New Negro is divided into two major parts.
Part One focuses on the Harlem Renaissance, and
Part Two on the future of the New Negro. Locke
contributes five essays, including the introductory
essay. The Harlem Renaissance section contains es-
says, fiction, poetry, drama, music, and folk stories
written by writers who became the luminaries of
the period, including JEAN TOOMER, ZORA NEALE
HURSTON, COUNTEE CULLEN, CLAUDE MCKAY, W.
E. B. DUBOIS, ARNA BONTEMPS, GEORGIA DOUGLAS
JOHNSON, and LANGSTON HUGHES. The poems range
in tone from McKay’s radical “The White House”394 New Negro, The: An Interpretation