Open your eyes to where we came from, where we have the possibilities of going. Not what we are going to do, what we have done."" (Kirschke, 129).
The Harlem Renaissance saw a new internal and external approach to the conceptual image of blackness. A New Negro was to evolve, who, as a new social character, would be able to successfully deal with external and internal factors influencing not only his social status but also his self-identity and individuality. That new type was to achieve both: raise race awareness for Blacks in the white population and emerge himself as a proud and self-determined being, who acknowledged his racial and historical background with pride. .
Two of the many African Americans who tried to overcome centuries of prejudice, segregation, denial and forgetfullness were Alain Locke and Aaron Douglas, both of whom stressed the central position art and culture were to have in helping the black community with defining themselves as Americans who were contributing their rich historical and cultural background to society. Following the same dream did Locke try to promote his new social type through elevating African American artists and their work, while Douglass was one of those who were able to reach a wide audience through their artistic abilites. The question that remains however, is if and how both men's ideas and approaches contradict or support each other and how their work can be seen as a important contribution to African-American self-understanding.
The idealistic image of the New Negro was developed by Alain Locke. He wanted to show that how Blacks were regarded in society and how they viewed themselves, was the product of suppossed white social and intellectual primacy, as well as the Black's willingness to bow to the concept they were pushed into. To shed that image of the Old Negro, who was accepting, it was necessary to strive towards becoming the New Negro.