In “Harlem” by Alain Locke, there seem to be two reckonings of what the neighborhood of Harlem is meant to represent and how it is supposed to function as a result of this newly christened representation. The first continues an overarching theme of the Harlem Renaissance period which is a revitalization of the Black identity. This revitalization came in the form of what was known as “The New Negro” movement. The first wave of the Great Migration saw Harlem seized as the center or even more pointedly, the mecca, of a new Black culture and identity. The second reckoning discovers the purpose and functionality of understanding the neighborhood of Harlem to be representative of the New Negro movement. In the first several paragraphs of the essay, Locke touches on three different versions of Harlem. The first is the Harlem that the majority of New York sees, “it is a black belt and nothing more,” Locke laments in his first description (629). The second Harlem is “the Harlem of the newspapers” which grotesquely distorts the reality of Harlem living with outlandish tales of “shufflin’ ” “rollin’ ” parties and entertainment hubs. The third version, however, rejects the charges of insignificance and overzealous characterizations. Locke describes this third Harlem as being “neither slum, ghetto, resort or colony, though it is in part all of them” (629). This Harlem is the Harlem meant to shelter revitalization, meant to sustain the movement, it should be viewed not as just a mecca but “a race capital” (629). The designation as a race capital displays how Harlem was meant to function as a representative of the reclaiming of the Black identity. Akin to the role that European cities like Prague and Dublin played in creating “ New Chzecholslavikia” and a “New Ireland”, Harlem who at that time saw the largest surge of Black migration not just domestically but across the African diaspora with what Locke calls, “the first concentration in history of so many diverse elements of Negro life” (630).