The Chicago New Negro

The New Negro as defined by author Davarian Baldwin varies from Alain Locke's New Negro  in the same way that a politician differs from his media pundits.  In Locke's definition of the New Negro, there is a group of educated elites that bring a new type of black intelligentsia and artistry that helps African Americans usurp their own narratives.  This cannot be understated as it is empowering to finally be able to define yourself and look to your own people as a source or a well of inspiration.  However, Baldwin's New Negro is the politician - the one who not only believes in every policy that is talked about on talk host radio but the one trying to get bills signed and pass legislation.  In fact, Baldwin's New Negro could be better defined as the populace, taking control of their own institutions and defining their own industry, government and power structures as they see fit.  This is not exclusive to elites and allows for a more comprehensive narrative in which the African American population of Chicago began to create their own economic infrastructure, using their own communities as a basis for support and clientele.

   Baldwin highlights Jack Johnson as the epitome of the New Negro in the foreword for a myriad of reasons but mainly because Johnson seemingly didn't live by any rules.  Not only was Johnson scoring for African Americans in the ring by beating white heavyweight champions in the sport of boxing, he was living dangerously on the edge by dating white women openly, much to the chagrin of the racial climate of the time.  His racy life outside of the ring develops a character amongst the new negroes that didn't exist in the past.  Normally, blacks were yes-men and did their best to be seen and not heard in society from white people for fear of the backlash of white hegemony.  However, when stepping out into a popular arena, there was this sense that African Americans carried the pride of their race and the pressures that came along with it.  Johnson never seemed to carry these pressures which helped him inside and outside of the ring.  Whatever the case, Baldwin notes Johnson as the most revolutionary new negro because he started a sort of revolution in which many new negroes would enter different spheres of society and set ideas of white superiority on their ears through their achievement.
    Through these ideas of people emerging through the different sectors of society as the best or the highest achievers we see the city of Chicago spawn a new negro business class in which blacks sell to and support their own businesses.  Baldwin notes Madam Walker as the main proponent of a change in the new negro because of her work in the hair care industry.  Walker, seeing a need for hair care in the black community, created a line of products for maintaining hair which in turn spawned an entire industry for black women and created a niche for them in beauty culture that did not used to exist.  Through this she broke down barriers and became the first black millionaire - the idea of achievement as put into action by Johnson.
   It is through Johnson, a black business owner in Chicago as well, and Walker that Baldwin demonstrates that the new negro does not just exist in Harlem in some Ivory Tower with a bunch of other scholars discussing the current issues of the day.  He demonstrates through this black business class that there are normal, every day black people rewriting their own narratives through creating their own economy.  Instead of the new negro just being an artist or someone who highlights the problems within society to give blacks a form of expression, there is a group of people who are actually in society creating the actual change.