The New Negro: An Interpretation (1925) is an anthology of fiction, poetry, and essays on African and African-American art and literature edited by Alain Locke, who lived in Washington, DC, and taught at Howard University during the Harlem Renaissance.

In addition, his anthology sought to change old stereotypes and replace them with new visions of black identity that resisted simplification.

The Negro spirituals revealed themselves; suppressed for generations under the stereotypes of Wesleyan hymn harmony, secretive, half-ashamed, until the courage of being natural brought them out—and behold, there was folk music.

Locke states, "It was rather the necessity for fuller, truer self-expression, the realization of the unwisdom of allowing social discrimination to segregate him mentally, and a counter-attitude to cramp and fetter his own living—and so the 'spite-wall'... has happily been taken down.

[11] It represents that despite the history of racial discrimination from the whites to the blacks, they show what they believe is right in their self-expression, no matter how other people judge them.

Cullen's poem, "Heritage," also shows how one finds self-expression in facing the weight of their own history as African Americans brought from Africa to America as slaves.

[12] The publication of Locke's anthology coincided with the rise of the Jazz Age, the Roaring Twenties, and the Lost Generation.

Harlem Renaissance poets and artists such as Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Georgia Douglas Johnson explored the beauty and pain of black life through jazz and blues and sought to define themselves and their community outside of white stereotypes.

[14] Some of the most prominent African-American artists who were greatly influenced by the "New Negro" concept, as reflected in their music and concert works, were William Grant Still and Duke Ellington.

[15] The Harlem Renaissance prompted a renewed interest in black culture that was even reflected in the work of white artists, the most well known example being George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

Some criticized the author's selections, specifically Eric Walrond, who wrote the collection of short stories Tropic Death (1926).

Even some modern late 20th-century authors such as Gilbert Osofsky were concerned that the ideas of the New Negro would go on to stereotype and glamorize black life.

[citation needed][8] After Locke published The New Negro, the anthology seemed to have served its purpose in trying to demonstrate that African Americans were advancing intellectually, culturally, and socially.

[28] Locke's influence on the Harlem Renaissance encouraged artists and writers like Zora Neale Hurston to seek inspiration from Africa.

[1]  Artists Aaron Douglas, William H. Johnson, Archibald Motley, and Horace Pippin created artwork representing the "New Negro Movement" influenced by Locke's anthology.