The Book Prize Index

The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke

Jeffrey C. Stewart

The definitive biography of Alain Locke, the first African American Rhodes Scholar and Harvard PhD in philosophy, Howard University philosophy scholar, and architect of the Harlem Renaissance, who mentored a generation of artists including Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Nurston and promoted the work of African Americans as the quintessential creators of American modernism. This biography explores his professional and private life, including his relationships with white patrons and his lifelong search for love as a gay man.

BiographyBiography · medium confidenceBiography81 signalsLlm Classifier: Biography -> BiographyKeyword Classifier: American History -> American HistoryAward Category: Plutarch Award: Biography -> BiographyBlack History & CultureLiterary Biography

Award History

4 wins · 5 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
Pulitzer Prize in Biography or AutobiographyMajor2019WinnerSecondary source
National Book Award for NonfictionMajor2018WinnerSecondary source
Mark Lynton History Prize2019WinnerSecondary source
PROSE Award for Biography and Autobiography2019WinnerOfficial source
Plutarch Award: Biography2019FinalistSecondary source
View all award history (5)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    • Alain Locke95%
    Show lower-confidence suggestions

    These suggestions did not meet the normal display threshold and are more likely to be wrong.

    • Langston Hughes40%
    • Zora Neale Nurston38%

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    No argument inferred with sufficient confidence.

    This suggestion did not meet the normal display threshold and is more likely to be wrong.

    The biography argues that Alain Locke helped shape African Americans’ prominence as key creators of American modernism through his mentorship and advocacy, grounded in both his professional career and private search for love.

    Model confidence 56%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    70 / 100 academic

    Academic

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 72%.