Alain Locke: “Enter the New Negro”

Audience

“Enter the New Negro” was published in a special issue of Survey Graphic. The nonprofit, mainstream journal was launched in 1921, and through 1932 it was the illustrated supplement to The Survey, the nation’s premier social work journal. In 1933 it became a separate publication and survived until 1952. Survey Graphic published articles on a host of contemporary issues, including trade unionism, anti-Semitism, the rise of Fascism, poverty, and political and education reform. The roots of the journal were progressive, and it was never shy about taking on controversial issues. Its emphasis was on the role that government played in shaping the lives of individuals. Its audience, which was relatively small compared with that of other mainstream publications, consisted primarily of middle-class professionals who took an interest in issues pertaining to social welfare and who themselves were in a position to make decisions that affected the lives of all Americans. Later, during the 1930s, the journal played an important role in visually documenting the hardships of the Great Depression.