Introduction to "The New Negro"

With a last name associated with the philosopher who influenced the Declaration of Independence, Alain Locke seemed destined to be the first African-American Rhodes Scholar. He went on to shape and lead the Harlem Renaissance, which included editing and introducing an anthology of essays about the New Negro.

Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 11 Unit 5's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: The Harlem Renaissance, The New Negro, To Usward, Lift Every Voice and Sing, On 'From the Dark Tower' , How It Feels to Be Colored Me, Sweat, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Mother to Son, critical reviews
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. vibrant
    vigorous and animated
    For the younger generation is vibrant with a new psychology; the new spirit is awake in the masses
  2. contemporary
    belonging to the present time
    and under the very eyes of the professional observers is transforming what has been a perennial problem into the progressive phases of contemporary Negro life
  3. metamorphosis
    striking change in appearance or character or circumstances
    Could such a metamorphosis have taken place as suddenly as it has appeared to?
  4. controversy
    a dispute where there is strong disagreement
    The Old Negro, we must remember, was a creature of moral debate and historical controversy...
  5. transplant
    transfer from one place or period to another
    In the very process of being transplanted, the Negro is becoming transformed.
  6. migration
    the movement of persons from one locality to another
    The tide of Negro migration, northward and city-ward, is not to be fully explained as a blind flood started by the demands of war industry coupled with the shutting off of foreign migration, or by the pressure of poor crops coupled with increased social terrorism in certain sections of the South and Southwest.
  7. toil
    productive work, especially physical work done for wages
    The wash and rush of this human tide on the beach line of the northern city centers is to be explained primarily in terms of a new vision of opportunity, of social and economic freedom, of a spirit to seize, even in the face of an extortionate and heavy toil, a chance for the improvement of conditions.
  8. motive
    the reason that arouses action toward a desired goal
    Each group has come with its own separate motives and for its own special ends, but their greatest experience has been the finding of one another.
  9. sentiment
    tender, romantic, or nostalgic feeling or emotion
    Within this area, race sympathy and unity have determined a further fusing of sentiment and experience.
  10. nascent
    being born or beginning
    That is why our comparison is taken with those nascent centers of folk-expression and self-determination which are playing a creative part in the world to-day.
Created on Mon Nov 17 04:57:50 EST 2014 (updated Mon Nov 17 09:20:54 EST 2014)

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