Youth

Blog #2

The New Negro is one whose drive is to transform the stereotypical racially inferior ideas of society into thoughts of himself as an intellectual and biological equal. The early Twentieth century formation of a new identity, psychologically and spiritually, has allowed for the African American community to reinvent and reposition themselves within society. Upon further examination of this movement Alain Locke reveals how the Negro has gained the ability to not only be the subject of discussion and observation but to speak for himself. As Alain Locke explains in The New Negro, “ A main change has been, of course, that shifting of the Negro population which has made the Negro problem no longer exclusively or even predominantly Southern” (5).  Wilkerson speaks to this transition in her text about the great migration. While the three main narratives in her text illustrate a common motivation for migration, each one offers a personal account as to why they finally took the risk and left the South. I choose to read about Robert Foster who eventually left Monroe, Louisiana for Los Angeles. Like the others in the text Foster could no longer accept the conditions of the Jim Crow world in which he was growing up. On a day-to-day basis Foster and others within the black community were forced to subject to the spoken and unspoken rules of Jim Crow segregation. Throughout Foster’s description of how his town was clearly divided by the railroad tracks and the separation within the Paramount Theater it becomes clear to the reader that even as a naïve boy Foster was socialized to know his place in this world. Like the psychological transformation of the New Negro we see Foster’s self-determination progress and his submissiveness diminish. As the beginning section of Foster’s youth comes to a close he recounts an act of blatant refusal of submission towards a white mans derogatory request. His remark to the gentleman searching for a black female to have sex with, exhibits Fosters aggravation with the cast systems in place. From Foster’s narrative I see the transformation of an African American youth into the New Negro that Alain Locke refers to. I feel as though Langston Hughes also expresses the sentiments of the New Negro youth in his poem Youth. The optimistic tone of the poem in conjunction with the attitude that tomorrow is the future and can bring about change, reminds me of the spirits of the New Negro. In the last stanza Hughes speaks about the youth marching forward and over the rough road of the past. The development of Foster from a child subjected to the educational disparities that Jim Crow brings forth to this young man who is learning to speak up for himself despite the consequences is what I think Hughes captures in his poem. That despite the terrible conditions of Jim Crow segregation tomorrow holds a bright flame that can change everything.