BAHA'I STUDIES REVIEW, Volume 10, 2001/2002
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Alain Locke: Bahá'í philosopher
by
Christopher Buck

End Notes (Use [BACK] to return to body or article.)
  1. Alain Locke, "Unity through Diversity: A Bahá'í Principle," in The Bahá'í World: A Biennial International Record, Volume IV, April 1930-April 1932, comp. national spiritual assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada (New York: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1933; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1980) 372-74. Reprint in Leonard Harris (ed.), The Philosophy of Alain Locke (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989) 133-38 [above quote from 137]. Harris' reference (133 n.) should be emended to read, Volume IV, 1930-1932 (not "V, 1932-1934").
          This paper will appear in the forthcoming book, Lights of the Spirit: Black Bahá'ís — A Reader, co-edited by Richard W. Thomas and Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis. Use was made of archival sources in the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center (MSRC), Howard University, courtesy of Ms. Ida Jones, manuscript librarian, who assistance is gratefully acknowledged; and the National Bahá'í Archives (NBA), US Bahá'í National Center, courtesy of Roger M. Dahl, archivist, whose assistance is also gratefully acknowledged. My research trip to the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University (6-9 August 2001) and to the Washington, D.C. Bahá'í Center (10 August 2001) was made possible through the generous support of Kalimát Press, and also with the assistance of the Department of American Thought and Language, Michigan State University. I am also indebted to Gayle Morrison for her careful reading and critical comments on a previous version of this manuscript, which is part of a work-in-progress, Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy (Los Angeles: Kalimát Press, forthcoming).
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  2. Alain Locke, "Pluralism and Ideological Peace," in Sidney Hook and Milton R. Konvitz, eds. Freedom and Experience: Essays presented to Horace M. Kallen (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1947) 67.
  3. Judith Green, "Cosmopolitan Unity Amidst Valued Diversity: Alain Locke's Vision of Deeply Democratic Transformation," in Deep Democracy: Community, Diversity, and Transformation (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) 132.
  4. Gayle Morrison, To Move the World: Louis G. Gregory and the Advancement of Racial Unity in America (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1982), 4, note.
  5. Ernest Mason, "Alain Locke's Social Philosophy," World Order 13.2 (1979): 25-34. See also idem, "Alain Locke on Race and Race Relations," Phylon 40.4 (1979): 342-50. Cf. Yvonne Ochillo, "The Race-Consciousness of Alain Locke," Phylon 47.3 (1986): 173-81.
  6. Columbus Salley, The Black 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential African-Americans, Past and Present. Revised and Updated (Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1999 [1993]) 137.
  7. George Hutchison, The Harlem Renaissance in Black and White (Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 1995) 390.
  8. Winston Napier, "Affirming Critical Conceptualism: Harlem Renaissance Aesthetics and the Formation of Alain Locke's Social Philosophy," The Massachusetts Review 39.1 (Spring).
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  9. Rudolph A. Cain, "Alain Leroy Locke: Crusader and Advocate for the Education of African American Adults," Journal of Negro Education 64.1 (1995): 87; Michael R. Winston, "Locke, Alain LeRoy," in Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston, eds. Dictionary of American Negro Biography (New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1982) 403. See also Tommy Lee Lott, "Alain LeRoy Locke," in Michael P. Kelly (ed.) Encyclopedia of Aesthetics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) 160-65; and Sandra L. Quinn-Musgrove, "Lost in Blackness: Alain LeRoy Locke," Ethnic Forum 12.2 (1992): 48-68. The present writer has not yet accessed Jeffrey Stewart, A Biography of Alain Locke, Philosopher of the Harlem Renaissance, 1886-1930 (PhD dissertation, Yale University, 1979). Abstracted in Dissertation Abstracts International 1981 42.4: 1696-1697-A.
  10. Winston, op. cit., 403.
  11. Mason, "Alain Locke's Social Philosophy."
  12. Alain Locke, "Values and Imperatives" in Sidney Hook and Horace M. Kallen, eds. American Philosophy, Today and Tomorrow (New York: Lee Furman, 1935) 313-33.
  13. Locke, ibid.
  14. Cited by Horace M. Kallen, "Alain Locke and Cultural Pluralism." Journal of Philosophy 54.5 (28 February 1957): 121.
  15. Kallen, op. cit., 122.
  16. Winston, op. cit., 398.
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  17. For verification of Locke's birthdate, I obtained a document issued by the "Department of Public Health and Charities, Bureau of Health" (City Hall, Philadelphia), Alain Locke Papers, Box 164-1, Folder 1, Manuscript Division, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University. See note by Leonard Harris, "Rendering the Text," in idem (ed.) The Philosophy of Alain Locke: Harlem Renaissance and Beyond (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989)
  18. As was the case when Locke filled out his "Bahá'í Historical Record" card. Under "Birthdate," Locke had entered "September 13, 1886." Bahá'í Historical Record Cards Collection, and Biographical Information Collection, NBA.
  19. Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-1, Folder 2 (Autobiographical statements). Although his middle name was formally spelled "LeRoy," in full signature he would write "Leroy," as evident on his "Bahá'í Historical Record" card signature. Bahá'í Historical Record Cards Collection, and Biographical Information Collection, NBA.
  20. Kallen, op. cit., 122.
  21. Late in life, Locke reminisced about some of his childhood experiences. See Douglas K. Stafford, "Alain Locke: The Child, the Man, and the People," Journal of Negro Education 30.1 (Winter 1961): 25-34.
  22. M. Anthony Fitchue, "Locke and Du Bois: Two Major Black Voices Muzzled by Philanthropic Organizations," Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Issue 14 (Winter 1996-1997): 111. Online. JSTOR. Accessed 5 Mar 2001.
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  23. Winston, op. cit., 398.
  24. Winston, ibid.
  25. Winston, ibid.
  26. Hutchison, op. cit., 40.
  27. Hutchison, op. cit., 39-40.
  28. Kallen, op. cit., 122.
  29. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 5.
  30. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 3-5.
  31. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 4 and 293.
  32. Locke to Parsons, 28 June 1922, Agnes Parsons Papers, NBA.
  33. Winston, op. cit., 398.
  34. Mason, Locke's Social Philosophy, 25.
  35. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 4.
  36. Winston, op. cit., 398.
  37. Nancy Fraser, "Another Pragmatism: Alain Locke, Critical `Race' Theory, and the Politics of Culture," in Leonard Harris (ed.) The Critical Pragmatism of Alain Locke: A Reader on Value Theory, Aesthetics, Community, Culture, Race, and Education (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) 6.
  38. Kallen, op. cit., 121.
  39. Jeffrey C. Stewart, "A Black Aesthete at Oxford." Massachusetts Review 34.3 (1993): 411-28.
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  40. Kallen, op. cit., 119.
  41. Hutchison, op. cit., 85. See also Ross Posnock, Color and Culture: Black Writers and the Making of the Modern Intellectual (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998) 191.
  42. Menand, op. cit., 391.
  43. Posnock, op. cit., 192.
  44. Kallen, op. cit., 119.
  45. Kallen, op. cit., 122.
  46. Hutchison, op. cit., 85.
  47. Louis Menand, The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001) 390.
  48. Menand, ibid.
  49. Menand, op. cit., 391.
  50. Menand, op. cit., 391.
  51. Kallen, op. cit., 122.
  52. Alain Locke, "Oxford Contrasts," Independent 67 (July 1909): 139-42. See also idem, "The American Temperament," North American Review 194 (August 1911): 262-70.
  53. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 294.
  54. Posnock, op. cit., 194.
  55. Kallen, op. cit., 122.
  56. Winston, op. cit., 399.
  57. Stewart, op. cit.
  58. Kallen, op. cit., 122.
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  59. M. G. Brock and M. C. Curthoys, eds. The History of the University of Oxford, Vol. VII. Nineteenth-Century Oxford, Part 2 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) 804, citing Jeffrey Green, Black Edwardians (1998) 154.
  60. Kallen, op. cit., 122.
  61. Menand, op. cit., 390.
  62. Kallen, op. cit., 121-22.
  63. Menand, op. cit., 390.
  64. William B. Harvey, "The Philosophical Anthropology of Alain Locke," in Russell J. Linnemann (ed.) Alain Locke: Reflections on a Modern Renaissance Man (Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University, 1982) 18.
  65. Kallen, op. cit., 122. For an analysis of Locke's dissertation on value theory, see Ernest Mason, "Alain Locke's Philosophy of Value," in Russell J. Linnemann (ed.) Alain Locke: Reflections on a Modern Renaissance Man (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1982) 1-16. Locke had originally intended to study under Royce as his PhD supervisor, but Royce had died by the time Locke returned to Harvard.
  66. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 10.
  67. Molesworth, op. cit., 176.
  68. Mason, "Alain Locke's Social Philosophy," 28.
  69. Locke, "Values and Imperatives," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 43.
  70. Locke, op. cit., 45.
  71. Locke, op. cit., 36.
  72. Locke, "The Need for a New Organon in Education," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 272.
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  73. Charles Molesworth, "Alain Locke and Walt Whitman: Manifestos and National Identity," in Leonard Harris (ed.) The Critical Pragmatism of Alain Locke: A Reader on Value Theory, Aesthetics, Community, Culture, Race, and Education (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) 175.
  74. Fitchue, op. cit., 113.
  75. Kallen, op. cit., 122.
  76. Menand, op. cit., 396 and Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 205. These lectures were later edited and published: Alain Locke, Race Contacts and Interracial Relations, edited by Jeffery C. Stewart (Washington: Howard University Press, 1992).
  77. See Alain Locke, "Major Prophet of Democracy." Review of Race and Democratic Society by Franz Boas. Journal of Negro Education 15.2 (Spring 1946): 191-92. See also Mark Helbling, "Feeling Universality and Thinking Particularistically: Alain Locke, Franz Boas, Melville Herkskovits, and the Harlem Renaissance," Prospects 19 (1994): 289-314.
  78. Cited by Peggy Pascoe, "Miscegenation Law, Court Cases, and Ideologies of `Race' in Twentieth-Century America," Journal of American History 83.1 (June 1996): 53, n. 23.
  79. Pascoe, op. cit., 53.
  80. Menand, op. cit., 396-97.
  81. Fraser, op. cit., 7.
  82. "The Negro's Contribution to American Culture," Journal of Negro Education 8 (July 1939): 521-39, reprinted in Jeffrey C. Stewart (ed.), The Critical Temper of Alain Locke: A Selection of His Essays on Art and Culture (New York: Garland, 1983) and quoted in Tommy Lee Lott, "Nationalism and Pluralism in Alain Locke's Social Philosophy," in Lawrence Foster and Patricia Herzog (eds.) Defending Diversity: Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives on Pluralism and Multiculturalism (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1994): 106.
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  83. Fraser, op. cit., 17.
  84. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 296-97.
  85. Harvey, op. cit., 21.
  86. Alain Locke, "The Negro in the Three Americas," Journal of Negro Education 14 (Winter 1944): 7 (editorial note).
  87. Beth J. Singer 1999. "Alain Locke Remembered," in Leonard Harris (ed.) The Critical Pragmatism of Alain Locke: A Reader in Value Theory, Aesthetics, Community, Culture, Race, and Education (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) 328.
  88. Singer, op. cit., 329.
  89. Singer, op. cit., 329-30.
  90. The present writer has requested — but not yet received — the text of this speech, archived in the Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-123, Folder 8 ("On Becoming World Citizens." Commencement Address at University of Wisconsin High School, 28 May 1946. [typescript]).
  91. Kallen, op. cit., 122.
  92. See Verner D. Mitchell, "Alain Locke: Philosophical `Midwife' of the Harlem Renaissance," in Leonard Harris (ed.) The Critical Pragmatism of Alain Locke: A Reader on Value Theory, Aesthetics, Community, Culture, Race, and Education (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) 192.
  93. Locke, The New Negro, 6 and 47, quoted in Franke, op. cit., 23 and 26.
  94. Alain Locke (ed.), The New Negro (New York: Albert and Charles Boni, Inc., 1925). Reprinted, with a new preface by Robert Hayden (New York: Atheneum, 1969).
  95. Shusterman, op. cit., 102 and 109, n. 8.
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  96. Astrid Franke, "Struggling with Stereotypes: The Problems of Representing a Collective Identity," in Leonard Harris (ed.) The Critical Pragmatism of Alain Locke: A Reader on Value Theory, Aesthetics, Community, Culture, Race, and Education (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) 22.
  97. Locke, The New Negro 11, 47, 99, quoted in Shusterman, op. cit., 105.
  98. Fraser, op. cit., 15-17.
  99. Alain Locke, The New Negro, 52-3 and 9, quoted in Richard J. Shusterman, "Pragmatist Aesthetics: Roots and Radicalism," in Leonard Harris (ed.), The Critical Pragmatism of Alain Locke: A Reader in Value Theory, Aesthetics, Community, Culture, Race, and Education (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) 102 and 104.
  100. Molesworth, op. cit., 185.
  101. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 6. Locke expressed his enthusiastic support for Du Bois's concept in an essay, "The Talented Tenth," Howard University Record 12.7 (December 1918): 15-18, but locked antlers with Du Bois over the latter's insistence that art be propaganda, in a later essay, "Art or Propaganda?" Harlem 1 (November 1928): 12-13. See discussion in Richard Keaveny, "Aesthetics and the Isuue of Identity," in Leonard Harris (ed.), The Critical Pragmatism of Alain Locke: A Reader in Value Theory, Aesthetics, Community, Culture, Race, and Education (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) 127-40.
  102. See Alain Locke, "Art or Propaganda?" Harlem 1 (November 1928): 12-13.
  103. Molesworth, op. cit., 176.
  104. Johnny Washington, Alain Locke and Philosophy: A Quest for Cultural Pluralism (New York: Greenwood Press, 1986) xxv.
  105. Fraser, op. cit., 16.
  106. Posnock, op. cit., 198.
  107. Kallen, op. cit., 121.
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  108. A facsimile of Louis Gregory's "Bahá'í Historical Record" card is reproduced in Morrison, op. cit., between pp. 208 and 209.
  109. On the Bahá'í Historical Record cards, see Robert Stockman, The Bahá'í Faith in America: Early Expansion, 1900-1912 (Oxford: George Ronald, 1995) 412; and "Bahá'í Historical Record," Bahá'í News, No. 94 (August 1935): 2. The Historical Record Cards have been available to researchers for some time, but they gave no clues about Locke because his card has only recently been discovered.
  110. Gayle Morrison, op. cit., "Table. Information about 99 black respondents among 1,1813 Bahá'ís surveyed, 1935-c. 1937, from Bahá'í Historical Record Cards in the National Bahá'í Archives, Wilmette, Illinois," 204.
  111. Bahá'í Historical Record Cards Collection, and Biographical Information Collection, NBA. The date, "1918," given in the table compiled by Morrison (ibid.) is certainly based on the personal data Locke provided.
  112. See Charlotte Linfoot, "Alain LeRoy Locke, 1886-1954," in The Bahá'í World: An International Record, Volume XIII, 1954-1963 (Haifa: Universal House of Justice, [1970] 1980) 894-5. In this obituary, Linfoot states: "In the early 1920's Dr. Locke came into contact with the Bahá'í Faith in Washington, DC" (895).
  113. My thanks to Gayle Morrison for suggesting these possibilities.
  114. Office of the Secretary Records, Bahá'í Membership Lists Files, Bahá'í National Center. These lists include: March 1922; September 1925; 1928-1929 (appears to be updated by hand and written over the typewritten 1927-1928 list); 14 January 1934; 22 January 1936; 1937; January 1938; 11 January 1939; 1940; 1941; 1942; 15 January 1943; 1944; 1945; 1946; 1947; 1948; 1949; 1950; 1951. Courtesy of Roger M. Dahl, Archivist, National Bahá'í Archives.
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  115. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 300. Locke instructed that his remains be cremated. See Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-1, Folder 6 (Will and instructions in case of death); and Folder 7 (Last will and testament, 1943). Along with many other Bahá'ís at that time, Locke was probably unaware of the Bahá'í proscription against cremation.
  116. This may be deduced from a letter written by Mariam Haney to "My dear Mr. Locke," in which she urges Locke to attend his first Bahá'í fireside (evidently, at the home of the Obers) for not only his sake, but for her sake and for the sake of other Bahá'ís as well: "My friends write me that you have never been to see them. I really was quite surprised, for my first thought about it all was that you would be rendering them a service. If you ever go once, I know you will want to go again, even if this first time I should ask you to go just to please me! I have your interests at heart and theirs as well, so you can gather why I should be anxious for a meeting between you. Through Mr. and Mrs. Ober, you would meet — (if you cared to) some very lovely people, and I should feel proud to have them know you." Haney to Locke, February 1915, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-33, Folder 49 (Haney, Mariam).
  117. Bahá'í Historical Record Cards Collection, and Biographical Information Collection, NBA. Locke received three copies of this form from Joseph F. Harley, III, secretary of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Washington, DC. Harley to Locke, 27 August 1935, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-176, Folder 13 (Bahá'í Faith).
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  118. Louis Gregory, "Convention for Amity Between the Colored and White Races." In Star of the West 12.6 (24 June 1921): 117-18. Reprinted as vol. 7 (Oxford: George Ronald, 1978). See also idem, "Inter-Racial Amity," in The Bahá'í World: A Biennial International Record, Volume Two, 1926-1928, comp. national spiritual assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada (New York: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1929; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1980) 281; and idem, "Racial Amity in America." In The Bahá'í World: A Biennial International Record, Volume VII, 1936-1938 (National spiritual assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada, 1939; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1980) 655; Mariam Haney (secretary, The Teaching Committee of Nineteen), "A Compilation of the Story of the Convention for Amity," 31 May 1921, Box 164-176, Folder 13 (Bahá'í Faith).
  119. Of that meeting, Locke writes: "Through a miscarriage of plans, due to necessity of taking some [heart] treatment, I could not manage to meet the group of friends in Stuttgart. I did, however, have some very appreciated hours with the friends in England, especially Miss Rosenberg." Locke to Parsons, 21 October 1922, Agnes Parsons Papers, NBA. See also Remey to Locke, 10 February 1923, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-80, Folder 1 (Remey, Charles Mason).
  120. "It is certain that the youth for whom you are now doing so much will[,] to a greater and greater degree, as the years pass, appreciate your service." Gregory to Locke, 12 March 1923, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-32, Folder 50 (Gregory, Louis G.)
  121. On his passport issued 26 June 1922, Locke, while in Berlin, was granted a visa, dated 25 August 1923, to "Egypt, Palestine & United Kingdom." Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-2, Folder 2 (Passports 1922, 1924).
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  122. Morrison, op. cit., 146; Gregory, "Inter-Racial Amity," 283; idem, "Racial Amity in America.," 657; Locke to Parsons, 21 October 1922, Agnes Parsons Papers, NBA. Members of the committee included Agnes Parsons, Elizabeth Greenleaf, Mariam Haney, Alain Locke, Mabel Ives, Louise Waite, Louise Boyle, Roy Williams, Philip R. Seville, and Mrs. Atwater.
  123. Morrison, op. cit., 147. Locke's response to his appointment was enthusiastic: "I received word today of the appointment on the Inter-Amity Committee, and am especially anxious to be able to contribute my share to its conferences and findings." Locke to Parsons, 22 May 1924, Agnes Parsons Papers, NBA.
  124. Morrison, op. cit., 149; Gregory, "Racial Amity in America.," 658.
  125. This committee had "essentially the same membership for the period 1925-26." Morrison, op. cit., 155.
  126. "The Seventeenth Annual Convention and Bahá'í Congress," Bahá'í News Letter, No. 6 (1925): 3. Holley to Locke, 1 June 1925; Holley to Locke, undated ("Sunday P.M." [sic]); Holley to Locke, 23 June 1925, western Union Cablegram, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-36, Folder 47 (Holley, Horace).
  127. "News of the Cause," Bahá'í News Letter, No. 10 (Feb. 1926): 6.
  128. Alaine [sic] Locke, "Impressions of Haifa," in Bahá'í Year Book, Volume One, April 1925-April 1926, comp. national spiritual assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada (New York: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1926) 81, 83. Morrison, op. cit., 151 and 343, n. 18. Holley to Locke, 29 December 1925; Holley to Locke, 28 January 1926, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-36, Folder 47 (Holley, Horace). "Impressions of Haifa" was first published in Star of the West 15, 13-14. In probable reference to this article, Shoghi Effendi wrote: "The article by Prof. Locke is very good and sufficient." (From a letter dated 12 March 1996 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National spiritual assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada Publishing Committee). Courtesy of The Universal House of Justice, enclosure to letter dated 16 July 2001 to the present writer.
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  129. Morrison, op. cit., 164.
  130. Holley to Locke, 17 March 1927; Holley to Locke, 20 March 1927; Holley to Locke, 30 March 1927, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-36, Folder 47 (Holley, Horace); and Box 164-112, Folder 21 ("Cultural Reciprocity").
  131. Holley to Locke, 20 April 1927; Holley to Locke, 16 June 1927; Holley to Locke, 13 February 1930, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-36, Folder 47 (Holley, Horace).
  132. "National Committee on Race Amity Appointed," Bahá'í News Letter, No. 16 (March 1927): 5. Committee members: Agnes Parsons ("Chairman"), Louis Gregory (Executive Secretary), Louise Boyle, Mariam Haney, Coralie Cook, Dr. Zia M. Bagdadi, Dr. Alain Locke. Morrison, op. cit., 166 and 344, n. 4.
  133. Louis Gregory, National Committee on Inter-Racial Unity, Gregory to National spiritual assembly and all Local Spiritual Assemblies of the United States and Canada, 23 February 1927, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-176, Folder 13 (Bahá'í Faith). This report was praised by Shoghi Effendi as a "splendid document [...] so admirable in its conception, so sound and sober in its language" and which "has struck a responsive chord in my heart" (Morrison, op. cit., 173 and 347, n. 20). Excerpts published in "Inter-Racial Amity Conferences," Bahá'í News Letter, no. 22 (March 1928).
  134. "Committees of the National spiritual assembly 1927-1928," Bahá'í News Letter, No. 19 (August 1927): 4. Members of this new committee: Agnes Parsons, Louis Gregory, Coralie Cook, Miss Elizabeth Hopper, Dr. Zia M. Bagdadi, Dr. Alain Locke, Miss Isabel Rives.
  135. Alaine [sic] Locke, "Impressions of Haifa," in The Bahá'í World: A Biennial International Record, Volume II, April 1926-April 1928, comp. national spiritual assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada (New York: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1928; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1980) 125, 127. Original manuscript in Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-115, Folder 29 ("Impressions of Haifa" [typescript]).
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  136. "Committees of the national spiritual assembly 1929-1930," Bahá'í News Letter, No. 32 (May 1929): 4. Members: Louis Gregory (Chairman), Shelley Parker (Secretary), Agnes Parsons, Louise Boyle, Mariam Haney, Dr. Zia Bagdadi, Dr. Alain Locke, Loulie Mathews, Miss Alice Higginbotham.
  137. Alain Locke, "Impressions of Haifa," in The Bahá'í World: A Biennial International Record, Volume III, April 1928-April 1930, comp. national spiritual assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada (New York: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1930; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1980) 280, 282.
  138. Louis Gregory, "Interracial Amity Committee" [1929-1930 Annual Report], Bahá'í News Letter, no. 40 (April 1930) 10-12. The committee members were: Louis G. Gregory (chairman), Shelley N. Parker (secretary), Agnes Parsons, Mariam Haney, Louise D. Boyle, Zia M. Bagdadi, Alain Locke, Alice Higgenbotham, Loulie A. Matthews. In reference to a draft letter (requested by the NSA) to Mrs. Herbert Hoover, who held a reception for black Congressman Oscar DePriest, the committee "pointed out that interracial amity is the basis of universal peace" (ibid., 12).
  139. Ruhi Afnan (on behalf of Shoghi Effendi) to Locke, 15 February 1930; Afnan (on behalf of Shoghi Effendi) to Locke, 5 July 1930; Shoghi Effendi to Locke, 5 July 1930, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-10, Folder 2 (Afnan, Ruhi). See appendix.
  140. "National Bahá'í Committees 1931-1932," Bahá'í News Letter, No. 53 (July 1931): 2. Members: Loulie Mathews (chairman), Louis G. Gregory (secretary), Dr. Zia M. Bagdadi, Mabelle L. Davis, Frances Fales, Sara L. Witt, Alain L. Locke, Shelley N. Parker, Annie K. Lewis. Of his acceptance, Locke writes: "Your letter about the Interracial committee was welcome and enheartening. I have written Mr. Lunt my acceptance, and hope next year to participate more actively in the Amity conferences and consultations." Locke to Gregory, 6 June 1931, Louis Gregory Papers, NBA. Louis Gregory, "The Annual Convention," Bahá'í News, no. 52 (May 1931): 3. See Morrison, op. cit., 349, n. 29.
  141. Locke spoke at the second session. Louis Gregory (on behalf of the National Bahá'í Committee for Racial Amity), "Inter-Racial Amity Activities," Bahá'í News, No. 72 (April 1933): 6. See also Morrison, op. cit., 194, citing "Committee Reports: Committee on Inter-Racial Amity," Bahá'í News, No. 74 (May 1933): 13 as well.
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  142. See note 1 supra.
  143. Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Washington, DC, untitled report, 1935, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-176, Folder 13 (Bahá'í Faith). Members of the Teaching Committee: Stanwood Cobb (chairman), Charles Mason Remey (vice-chairman), Mrs. John Stewart (secretary), Clarence Baker, Louise Boyle, William Gibson, Alain Locke, George Miller, Ethel Murray.
  144. Locke to Holley, 18 April 1935, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-36, Folder 47 (Holley, Horace).
  145. Held at the Tea House of the Dodge Hotel. Official program, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-176, Folder 13 (Bahá'í Faith). In a note to Locke written on an announcement of this event sent out by the local spiritual assembly of the Bahá'ís of Washington, DC, Joseph Harley III wrote: "Your Bahá'í record cards have not been received- Bring them Monday, please." (From the Washington, DC Bahá'í Archives.)
  146. Locke to Cobb, 10 December 1935, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-21, Folder 16 (Stanwood Cobb).
  147. Alain Locke, "The Orientation of Hope," in The Bahá'í World: A Biennial International Record, Volume V, April 1932-April 1934, comp. national spiritual assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada (New York: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1936; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1980) 527-28. Reprint in Leonard Harris (ed.), The Philosophy of Alain Locke (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989) 129-132. Leonard Harris' reference (129 n.) should be emended to read, "Volume V, 1932-1934" (not "Volume IV, 1930-1932"). Original manuscript in Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-123, Folder 11 ("The Orientation of Hope." 1934 [typescript]).
  148. "I understand from Miss Juliet Thompson that you are going to speak at the Bahá'í center on the afternoon of October 24th." Gulick to Locke, 11 October 1943, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-33, Folder 17 (Gulick, Robert L. Jr.).
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  149. Morrison, op. cit., 285.
  150. Gulick to Locke, 28 January 1944; Gulick to Locke, "25" [February 1944], Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-33, Folder 17 (Gulick, Robert L. Jr.).
  151. Alain Locke, "Lessons in World Crisis," in The Bahá'í World: A Biennial International Record, Volume IX, April 1940-April 1944, comp. national spiritual assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1945; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981) 745-47.
  152. "Local Communities," Bahá'í News, No. 182 (April 1946): 6.
  153. "Voting Members of the Washington, DC Bahá'í Community, 6 April 1949, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-176, Folder 13 (Bahá'í Faith).
  154. Gregory to Locke, 6 April 1949, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-32, Folder 50 (Gregory, Louis G.): "Although your Bahá'í spirit has been admirably shown by so many traits and activities, yet I have the deepest longing that you will see the wisdom of wholly identifying yourself with the Faith, thereby increasing your joys and usefulness, perhaps twenty-fold."
  155. Gregory to Locke, 21 January 1951, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-32, Folder 50 (Gregory, Louis G.): "... my longing is, that your identify yourself fully with it" [the Bahá'í Faith] ... My most earnest hope is that you will see clearly the way to unite with the Bahá'ís in either Washington or New York, in the latter of which, I am told, you maintain a residence."
  156. Nina Matthisen to Locke, 5 September 1952; and press release (1953), Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-176, Folder 13 (Bahá'í Faith).
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  157. Locke, "Impressions of Haifa" (1926, 1929, 1930).
  158. Locke, "Impressions" (1930) 280.
  159. Locke, ibid.
  160. Locke, ibid.
  161. Gregory, "Inter-racial Amity," 281. See Morrison, op. cit., 134-43.
  162. In a message conveyed by Mountfort Mills (an American Bahá'í recently returned from a visit to Palestine), `Abdu'l-Bahá was reported to have said: "Say to this convention that never since the beginning of time has a convention of more importance been held. This convention stands for the oneness of humanity. It will become the cause of the removal of hostilities between the races. It will become the cause of the enlightenment of America. It will, if wisely managed and continued, check the deadly struggle between these races, which otherwise will inevitably break out" (Gregory, "Convention for Amity Between the Colored and White Races," 115).
  163. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 5.
  164. Gregory, "Interracial Amity Committee" (1930) 10. (Note that this text differs from the translation given in another report (Gregory, "Convention for Amity Between the Colored and White Races," 115), but the gist is the same. In all likelihood, both translations were taken from the same Persian original.)
  165. `Abdu'l-Bahá to Parsons, 26 July 1921 and 27 September 1921. See Morrison, op. cit., 143 and 342, n. 34.
  166. Dahl to Buck, 16 February 2001.
  167. Locke to Gregory, 6 June 1931, Louis Gregory Papers, NBA.
  168. Locke to Holley, 18 April 1935, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-36, Folder 47 (Holley, Horace).
  169. Robert Stockman, The Bahá'í Faith in America: Early Expansion, 1900-1912 (Oxford: George Ronald, 1995) 189.
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  170. Locke to Parsons, 21 October 1922, Agnes Parsons Papers, NBA.
  171. Morrison, op. cit., 140. See Alain Locke, "Obituary of George Cook," Star of the West 18, 254. Mariam Haney had solicited this obituary. Haney to Locke, 25 September 1931, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-33, Folder 49 ("Haney, Mariam").
  172. Locke to Gregory, 6 June 1931, Louis Gregory Papers, NBA.
  173. Morrison, op. cit., 148-49, 164 and 182.
  174. Agnes Parsons, who once again served as the chair of that committee, was struck by a car and killed in January 1934. She was seventy-three years old at her death. Morrison, op. cit, 198.
  175. Morrison, op. cit., 194-213.
  176. Morrison, op. cit., 213.
  177. Locke to Mariam Haney (corresponding secretary of the Washington, DC LSA), 30 March 1941, MSRC, Box 164-33, Folder 49 ("Haney, Mariam").
  178. Louis Gregory (on behalf of the National Bahá'í Committee for Racial Amity), "Inter-Racial Amity Activities," Bahá'í News, No. 72 (April 1933): 6.
  179. "Local Communities," Bahá'í News, No. 182 (April 1946): 6.
  180. "News of the Cause," Baha'i News Letter, No. 10 (Feb. 1926): 6. Cf. Morrison, op. cit., 151, who states that this tour occurred in 1925. However, Horace Holley indicates 1926: "I am delighted that the plans have worked out so well for your southern trip. I hope you will keep in touch with me during this trip and send me little memorandums of your public talks and any other news that might be of interest to the friends in the Baha'i News Letter. You understand, of course, that I will present the story of your trip in an impersonal way and not refer to you as the source of the news. Consequently, please do not be so modest that you lean backward, because trips of this kind are most inspiring to all the friends and I feel that they have a right to know the details of what I am sure is going to be a remarkable speaking journey." Holley to Locke, 28 January 1926, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-36, Folder 47 (Holley, Horace). In a later letter, it is clear that this trip must have taken place prior to August, as Locke was in Paris at that time. Holley to Locke, 17 August 1926, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-36, Folder 47 (Holley, Horace).
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  181. "The Seventeenth Annual Convention and Baha'i Congress," Baha'i News Letter, No. 6 (1925): 3.
  182. "News of the Cause," Baha'i News Letter, No. 10 (Feb. 1926): 6-7.
  183. Morrison, op. cit., 124. See entry in index on 387, which says that Louis Gregory "helps form first Spiritual Assembly in South."
  184. See Christopher Buck, Symbol and Secret: Qur'an Commentary in Bahá'u'lláh's Kitáb-i Íqán. Studies in the Babi and Bahá'í Religions, vol. 7 (Los Angeles: Kalimát Press, 1995). Republished online as an electronic book at: <http://www.bahai-library.org/books/symbol.secretgt;.
  185. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 129-32.
  186. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 133-38.
  187. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 129.
  188. Shoghi Effendi to Locke, Western Union cablegram, 17 January 1944; Mabel Paine to Locke, 3 February 1944. See also Holley to Locke, 1 February 1944, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-36, Folder 47 (Holley, Horace), and Paine to Locke, 4 March 1944, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-12, Folder 3 (Bahá'í World). Original manuscript in Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-106, Folder 22 ([re: Bahá'í revelation of principles.])
  189. Locke, "The Orientation of Hope," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 130, 132.
  190. Menand, op. cit., 351.
  191. James T. Kloppenberg, "Pragmatism: An Old Name for Some New Ways of Thinking?" Journal of American History 83.1 (June 1996): 102, n. 3.
  192. Posnock, op. cit., 184.
  193. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 4.
  194. Alain Locke, "Pluralism and Intellectual Democracy," in Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion, Second Symposium (New York: Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion, 1942). Reprinted in Leonard Harris (ed.) The Philosophy of Alain Locke: Harlem Renaissance and Beyond (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989) 53.
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  195. Kloppenberg, op. cit., 101.
  196. Kloppenberg, op. cit., 120.
  197. Houston Baker, Jr., Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987) 75, quoted by Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 12. See Ernest Mason, "Deconstruction in the Philosophy of Alain Locke," Transactions of the Charles S. Pierce Society 24 (Winter 1988): 85-106.
  198. Posnock, op. cit., 187.
  199. Posnock, op. cit., 187.
  200. Leonard Harris, "Preface," in idem (ed.) The Critical Pragmatism of Alain Locke: A Reader in Value Theory, Aesthetics, Community, Culture, Race, and Education (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) xi.
  201. Mason, "Social Philosophy of Alain Locke," 26.
  202. Kallen, op. cit., 127.
  203. Green, "Alain Locke's Multicultural Philosophy of Value," 87.
  204. Judith Green, "Alain Locke's Multicultural Philosophy of Value," in Leonard Harris (ed.) The Critical Pragmatism of Alain Locke: A Reader on Value Theory, Aesthetics, Community, Culture, Race, and Education (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) 87.
  205. Napier, op. cit.
  206. Mason, "Social Philosophy of Alain Locke," 34.
  207. Ibid.
  208. Posnock, op. cit., 192.
  209. Molesworth, op. cit., 175-76.
  210. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 8, 10.
  211. Kallen, op. cit., 122.
  212. Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 9.
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  213. Private memorandum, Alain Locke Papers (MSRC), cited by Winston, op. cit., 402.
  214. Winston, op. cit., 404.
  215. Alain Locke, "Cultural Relativism and Ideological Peace," in Lyman Bryson, Louis Finkelstein, and R. M. MacIver (eds.) Approaches to World Peace (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1944) 609-618. Reprinted in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 67-78.
  216. Locke, op. cit., 70.
  217. Ibid.
  218. Locke, op. cit., 75.
  219. Locke, op. cit., 72.
  220. Ibid.
  221. Locke, op. cit., 73.
  222. Locke, "Pluralism and Intellectual Democracy," 60.
  223. Locke, "Values and Imperatives," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 48.
  224. Locke, "Cultural Relativism and Ideological Peace," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 73.
  225. Moses, op. cit., 166.
  226. Locke, "Cultural Relativism and Ideological Peace," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 73.
  227. Ibid.
  228. Locke, op. cit., 70.
  229. Locke, op. cit., 75.
  230. Locke to Parsons, 28 June 1922, Agnes Parsons Papers, NBA.
  231. Locke, "Unity through Diversity: A Bahá'í Principle," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 130.
  232. Locke, "Unity through Diversity: A Bahá'í Principle," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 135.
  233. Locke, op. cit., 136.
  234. Ibid.
  235. Green, Deep Democracy, 97.
  236. Washington, Alain Locke and Philosophy, xxv.
  237. Locke, op. cit., 135.
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  238. Ibid.
  239. Mason, "Locke's Social Philosophy," 26.
  240. Mason, "Locke's Social Philosophy," 28.
  241. Stikkers, op. cit., 214-15.
  242. Locke, op. cit., 135.
  243. Locke, "Unity through Diversity: A Bahá'í Principle," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 134.
  244. Posnock, op. cit., 202.
  245. Locke, "The Contribution of Race to Culture," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 203.
  246. Green, op. cit., 124.
  247. Alain Locke, "Pluralism and Ideological Peace," 65, cited by Harvey, op. cit., 26.
  248. Kenneth W. Stikkers, "Instrumental Relativism and Cultivated Pluralism: Alain Locke and Philosophy's Quest for a Common World," in Leonard Harris (ed.) The Critical Pragmatism of Alain Locke: A Reader in Value Theory, Aesthetics, Community, Culture, Race, and Education (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) 214.
  249. See Josiah Royce. The Philosophy of Loyalty. Republished with an introduction by John J. McDermott (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1995 [1908]).
  250. Leonard Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 4. See Josiah Royce, Race Questions, Provincialism, and Other American Problems (1908; reprint, Freeport: Books of Libraries Press 1967).
  251. Green, "Alain Locke's Multicultural Philosophy of Value," 88. See also Royce, Race Questions.
  252. Moses, op. cit., 168.
  253. Greg Moses, "Two Lockes, Two Keys: Tolerance and Reciprocity in a Culture of Democracy," in Leonard Harris (ed.) The Critical Pragmatism of Alain Locke (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) 165.
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  254. Moses, op. cit., 173.
  255. Green, "Cosmopolitan Unity Amidst Valued Diversity," 132.
  256. Green, op. cit., 97.
  257. Alain Locke, "Minorities and the Social Mind," Progressive Education 12 (March 1935): 142.
  258. Segun Gbadegesin, "Values, Imperatives, and the Imperative of Democratic Values," in Leonard Harris (ed.) The Critical Pragmatism of Alain Locke: A Reader on Value Theory, Aesthetics, Community, Culture, Race, and Education (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) 288.
  259. Ibid.
  260. Green, Deep Democracy, 96.
  261. Rudolph V. Vanterpool, "Open-Textured Aesthetic Boundaries: Matters of Art, Race, and Culture," in Leonard Harris (ed.) The Critical Pragmatism of Alain Locke: A Reader in Value Theory, Aesthetics, Community, Culture, Race, and Education (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) 141.
  262. Alain Locke, "Lessons in World Crisis," 746.
  263. Hutchison, op. cit., 86.
  264. Johnny Washington, A Journey into the Philosophy of Alain Locke (Westport, CT and London: Greenwood Press, 1994) 103.
  265. It should be noted that Shoghi Effendi, in The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, 2nd rev. edn. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974 [1938]), used this term to refer to differences of ethnic origins, climate, history, language, tradition, thought and habit (41) — generally, in the sense of a lack of conformity except in essentials — as the bedrock of the Bahá'í administrative order. It is therefore misleading to represent "unity in diversity" as applying only to race. (I am indebted to Gayle Morrison for this important observation.)
  266. See Jonathan Levin, "The Esthetics of Pragmatism," American Literary History 6 (1994): 658-83.
  267. Locke, "Unity through Diversity: A Bahá'í Principle," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 135.
  268. Locke, op. cit., 137.
  269. Locke, "Cultural Relativism and Ideological Peace," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 72.
  270. Locke, "The Need for a New Organon in Education," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 268.
  271. Locke, "Pluralism and Ideological Peace," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 99.
  272. Locke, "Pluralism and Intellectual Democracy," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 62.
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  273. "You had better make up your mind to become a Methodist — They are certainly loyal to you — I heard your praises sung by several of them." Mary Locke to Alain Locke, 14 May 1916), Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-65, Folder 21 (page 5).
  274. Locke to Parsons, 28 June 1922, Agnes Parsons Papers, NBA.
  275. Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-1, Folder 2 (Autobiographical statements).
  276. Untitled essay, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-143, Folder 3 (Writings by Locke — Notes. Christianity, spirituality, religion).
  277. Locke's probable homosexual orientation may be relevant to this. See, e.g., Leonard Harris, "'Outing' Alain Locke: Empowering the Silenced," in Sexual Identities, Queer Politics, ed. Mark Blasius (Princeton University Press, 2001) 321-41. In my own research of the Alain Locke Papers at Howard University, I discovered an unpublished autobiographical statement in which Locke referred to his "Achilles heel of homosexuality" which he "kept in an armoured shell [?] of reserve & haughty caution" (Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-143, Folder 5 [Autobiographical writings]).
  278. Ebony (October 1952) 39. Locke kept a copy of this article. Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-147, Folder 12 (Articles, advertisements that mention Locke).
  279. Bahadur to Locke, 27 February 1924, Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-12, Folder 2 (Bahadur, Azizullah).
  280. From his 1908 Berkeley lecture, "Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results," quoted in Menand, op. cit., 354.
  281. Locke, "Unity through Diversity: A Bahá'í Principle," in Harris, Philosophy of Alain Locke, 138.
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