The New Negro by Alain LeRoy Locke — Read

Locke emerged in May 1924 relatively unscathed from his conflicts with Barnes and Jessie Fauset. Barnes seemed afraid to attack Locke publicly: now that their names were linked in Opportunity, which had published his article, even he realized he would look ridiculous attacking a fellow contributor and the ghost editor of the volume. Fauset fumed in private or with her female friends, but Black respectability protected Locke once again.

By contrast, Locke was not well protected emotionally. In early June, William, his young lover, left Washington to work on a boat as a waiter. Neither Locke nor William was enthusiastic about the idea, but William took the position because it offered a chance to travel and mature somewhat. This removed the primary source of Locke's emotional turmoil, because William refused to allow Locke to control his life or his affections. After months of fruitless struggle between them, Locke's nerves were frayed and he was glad to see him go. He also soured on ever finding a romantic interest to fill the emotional void in his life. Why Locke had invested so much in that unrewarding relationship was unclear, even to Claude McKay. "You know some parts of your first letter mystify me rather. I thought I was persuading you all the time not to take that Washington disappointment so badly but I never reckoned on you entering upon experiences of ‘diffused emotion.' " Locke had begun traveling almost every weekend to New York, staying at the YMCA in Harlem, and visiting emerging gay nightclubs and cabarets where he could meet young men. Nevertheless, as he confided to McKay, these random sexual encounters were neither emotionally satisfying nor creatively stimulating.