Discusses Alain Locke and his allies' views regarding the advancement of the black race during the early years of the Harlem Renaissance. The author examines the ideological feud between black academic Abram Harris, Jr. and white magazine editor V. F. Calverton that illustrates the problem of white interference in the efforts of black scholars…

Addresses the basic conflict between the Enlightenment's humanitarian credo and slavery, the opposing beliefs of the pro-slavery movement and the abolitionists, and the resulting changes in the perceptions of blacks brought about by the emancipation literature of the French philosophers and writers of the eighteenth century. (BJV)