Discusses Alain Locke's 1925 text, "The New Negro," which offered the world the first comprehensive look at black literary and cultural achievements as seen through the eyes of African Americans, and which launched the Harlem Renaissance. Compares Locke with W.E.B. Du Bois and notes that Locke's contributors were nearly anyone who had published with any distinction (all of whom went on to achieve a measure of fame). (SM)