The Pessimistic View of the Past

In 1899, Charles Cook acknowledged the dim prospects for racial progress. Kelly Miller suggested that achievement by a few elite black men could improve the reputation of the whole race. William Ferris argued that Alan Locke's book The New Negro was not really new, but just a continuation of the black excellence that had existed for decades. Tommy Kari is an expert on this historical moment and the thinkers who gave it its distinctive flavor and pecancy.