Alain Locke (1885-1954), an essayist, professor, and, notably, the first Black Rhodes Scholar, was an only child, born to a postman and a schoolteacher from Philadelphia almost twenty-one years after the American Civil War. His painful struggle with rheumatic fever at an early age saddled him with heart issues, a condition that kept him inside yet allowed him to nurture his love of reading, piano, and violin. Sadly, his father passed away when he was only six years old, forcing his mother to raise him alone. However, he didn’t allow those unfortunate events that shackle him, rather, he became an optimist, striving to advance important causes dear to him.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://rafaelmoscatel.com/remembering-alain-locke-dean-of-the-harlem-renaissance/