Happy birthday, Alain Locke!! He felt that classical education was part of the “renaissance” of Black people. The literature of the Harlem Rennaissance not only comes out of our human experience but it was also inspired by the classical tradition. I don’t view this as assimilation or rejecting our heritage, but it was part of our process of gaining the literacy to translate our history into the language of this foreign land. My ancestors from that time of gaining language and literacy were so proud of our story that they wanted EVERYONE to know it, especially the oppressors and their next generations.
Dr. Anika T. Prather 