"Black Protest: A Rejection of the American Dream" and The New Negro

The focus of my paper is the first Great Migration from 1900-1930 and focuses not on the migration itself but on the regions in the North that became home for the migrants. This essay that I choose looks at the idea of the American Dream and what that meant for the people planning a move to the North. There was a promise of attaining happiness once in the North because of how it was promised to be different. But once in the North, the migrants had to deal with elements that were not always a factor in the South. Becoming part of the community and being expected to be a person of production and activism often followed new migrants in the North. There had never been opportunity for these black migrants to take the chances to get involved and now that they were afforded these chances, some had no idea how to take advantage of that situation. The New Negro was not always an easy identity to fall into and many times there were struggles to find a place that fit in their life and was comfortable. This struggle was visible in the  North and so the American Dream is not always realized so quickly but in fact takes time and patience.

Harlem's New Negro vs. Chicago's New Negro

The first glaring difference in Chicago’s New Negro versus Alain Locke’s New Negro is how the two see the New Negro participating in the reinvention of the old to the new. Baldwin focuses on the working force and the “shift from white philanthropy to black metropolis.” He uses Jack Johnson and C.J. Walker as examples of black men and women becoming New Negroes through their acts. Jack Johnson defies the stereotypes and beats a white man in the boxing ring while C.J. Walker defies white businesses and starts a business that caters to black women. These two are examples of the New Negro that Baldwin describes but for Locke the New Negro is more artistic and focused on making contributions “in terms of artistic endowments and cultural contributions.” His description of a New Negro focuses on the product of thought and creativity more than the actions that these people take. Another difference that lies between these two are the central locations that the New Negroes inhabit. For Baldwin he sees it based in Chicago where the businesses are opening up and thriving but for Locke he sees Harlem as the “home of the Negro’s ‘Zionism.’” Locke sites the rise of black magazines and news articles as a reason along with the art and intellectual publications as a reason that Harlem is the center for the New Negro.

Although there are many differences between the two descriptions of the New Negro, there do exist some similarities. Baldwin believes that it is not only the consumer economy but also the “traditional intellectual spheres of church and academe” where conversations were started and new ideas were discussed where before they were silenced. He believes that not only were the consumer-centered ideas important but also worked alongside the artistic expressions. Locke ends his essay with the idea of a “spiritual Coming of Age.” I believe that this idea exists through both accounts of the New Negro not only in Harlem but also in Chicago. The end product becomes the same no matter what process was involved in the coming of age. 

The Warmth of Other Suns

White Houses

Your door is shut against my tightened face,

And I am sharp as steel with discontent;

But I possess the courage and the grace

To bear my anger proudly and unbent.

The pavement slabs burn loose beneath my feet,

And passion rends my vitals as I pass,

Where boldly shines your shuttered door of glass.

Oh I must search for wisdom every hour,

Deep in my wrathful bosom sore and raw,

And find it in the superhuman power

To hold me to the letter of your law!

Oh I must keep my heart inviolate-

Against the potent poison of your hate.

            -Claude McKay

This poem from The New Negro (pg. 134) by Claude McKay most closely resembles the struggle that Robert Joseph Pershing Foster faced in The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson. When driving from the South to California he attempts to find a hotel to rent just inside the New Mexico border and thinks to himself “he was free now, like a regular American” (Wilkerson, 206). Yet after being turned down by three different hotels where he needed to rent a room he realized that “he had driven more than fifteen hundred miles and things were no different” (210). Like in the poem, the doors were shut again and again in his face and there was nothing he could do but move on and attempt to find somewhere to sleep. At the last motel where he is denied service, the owners are from a Northern state and can understand his plea but still refuse service to him following the laws that are still enforced even in “free” states.  From here, Foster has to find it in himself to keep going even though he has not slept in almost 3 days. This is when he has to dig deep and find it in his heart to continue on. In the poem this is reflected in the “pavement slabs” and how they begin to burn beneath the feet. The “search for wisdom” in the poem can be seen as a search for Foster to find a kind soul who will house a black man for one night.  The wisdom will lie in one white hotel owner being able to see past the color of Foster’s skin and recognize him as a man and a fellow American. In the end, Foster makes it to San Diego where he gets a nights rest and than continues on to California. On his way he says that “‘It’s gonna be lucky for me in California. It’s gonna be good’” (216). In McKay’s poem the person had to guard their heart from the “potent poison” of the hate of others around them and by making himself believe it, Foster is making sure he is guarded from the hate that still exists within many even, in California. 

My Self- Assessment

The very first Black Studies class I took was Intro to Caribbean Studies. I took this course as a way to get some general education requirements out of the way but learned more in this course than most others I had taken up to this point. The next class I took was Intro to African American Literature and this is when I realized that being a Black Studies major would be really interesting and that I would enjoy all the classes I took. Then came African American Music in the USA and Africa/ US Policy. Like many people I would choose classes based on content as well as Professor but for Black Studies classes I realized that no matter what class I took every professor provided a great experience and taught me a great deal that I was able to take into another class or another area of my life. Next I faced the greatest challenge of my college career when I took Black Feminist Thought with Professor Banks. I have never worked so hard in my life to grasp the concepts presented in her class but looking back on it this is the one class where I can say that I thought about the topics and ideas that were presented everyday and it made me completely invested in the topic of the class. This quarter as well as taking Senior Seminar I am also taking the Education of Black Children. I think that my perspective has changed but it is hard for me to say in what ways exactly. I always believed that I was open minded and conscious of how my actions, intended or not, affected others but I think that now I am even more aware.  I plan on teaching one day and I know that what I have learned being a Black Studies major will allow me to be a better teacher and understand the students I have better.