Alain Locke (far left), with Judge James S. Watson, Nnamdi Azikiwe— the first African president of Nigeria— K. O. Mbadwie, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Clarence Holt, Howard University, Washington, D.C., circa 1960.

Credit: Courtesy of the NYPL digital gallery, New York Public Library

Alain Locke taught at in the Philosophy Department at Howard University for forty years.  A popular but exacting professor, Locke set high standards for his students and enjoyed a wide network of friends and correspondents.