Alain LeRoy Locke

Alain Leroy Locke was an American writer, philosopher, educator, and patron of the arts. Distinguished as the first African American Rhodes Scholar in 1907, Locke was the philosophical architect the acknowledged Dean of the Harlem Renaissance. As a result, popular listings of influential AfricanAmericans have repeatedly included him. On March 19, 1968, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. proclaimed Were going to let our children know that the only philosophers that lived were not Plato and Aristotle, but W. E. B. Du Bois and Alain Locke came through the universe.

Alain Locke was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 13, 1885 to Pliny Ishmael Locke and Mary Hawkins Locke . He has been the only child of a welltodo family with significant pedigree. His mother Marry, who was a teacher, incited in him his passion for education and literature. In 1902, he graduated from Central High School in Philadelphia, second in his class. He also attended Philadelphia School of Pedagogy.

Source: Wikipedia