W.E.B. Du Bois
ENGL 362
Fall 2014
Jenna Conner
Sarah Oates
Tamar Sparrow
Early life:
-Born William Edward Burghardt Dubois on February 23, 1868 in
Great barrington, MA
- Member of small free black community
-Attended integrated schools
-He was very intelligent and encouraged by educators to pursue
education
-He wanted to use his mind to empower African Americans
-First attended Fisk University, a historically Black college in
Nashville (1885-1888)
-Nashville was his first experience with racism (Jim Crow Laws,
Lynchings)
-Then went to Harvard (1888-1890), followed by the University
of Berlin
-Upon his return from Berlin, Dubois was the first African
American to earn a Ph.D. in history from Harvard
Professional Beginnings:
-Took a job at Wilberforce University in Ohio where he
was influenced by Alexander Crummell and his
opinion that ideas and morals are necessary for social
change
-While there he married his student Nina Gomer
(1896)
-After Wilberforce, he took a year long research position
at the University of Pennsylvania in sociological
research in Philadelphia's African American
neighborhoods
-This research lead to his milestone study in The
Philadelphia Negro, the first case study about black
communities
-Coined the term “talented tenth;” one in every ten black
men become leaders of their race
-1897 attended the Negro Academy where he presented
a paper rejecting Frederick Douglass’ call for black
people to integrate into white society, and calling for
African Americans to embrace their African heritage
Atlanta Compromise:
-1895
-Booker T. Washington was the main proponent
of the agreement between African Americans and
Southern White Americans
-According to the agreement, blacks would not ask
to vote, fight back against racist behavior, and would
tolerate segregation and discrimination
-BUT they would receive basic education (limited to
vocational/industrial training, NO liberal
arts/classic education), and due process of law
-Dubois fought back
-Said blacks should actively participate in the
struggle for civil rights
-Called the aforementioned agreement the “Atlanta
Compromise,” in order to undermine it
Atlanta University:
-1897-1909
-Professor of History, Sociology and
Economics
-1903: The Souls of Black Folk - on
the African American experience
-Returns from 1934-1944
-Black Reconstruction in America reevaluation of the role of African
Americans in Civil War
The Souls of Black Folk:
-Published in 1903
-Book of essays about race
-Reflects Dubois’ own experiences as an
African American in white American
society
-In this book, Dubois argues against
Booker T. Washington’s stance that
black men should focus on laborfocused/industrial education, and
instead calls for Black men to get a
classical education in order to become
leaders and not simply workers
-Dubois justifies the reaching for higher
education for African Americans and
relates it to the rise of the Black middle
class.
First Pan-African Conference:
-Pan-African Congress - series of 7
meetings: 1919-1994
-1st meeting: July 20-25, 1921
-Address issues facing Africa as a
result of European colonization of
most of the continent
-Reputation as a peace-maker for
decolonization in Africa and in the
West Indies
NAACP:
-Had previously founded the
Niagra Movement in 1905
-Civil rights group, precursor to
NAACP
-Founding member of the National
Association of the Advancement of
Colored People in 1910
-Became editor of the NAACP
magazine, The Crisis
-Resigned in 1934, then later
returned as a director of special
research from 1944-1948
Double Consciousness:
-Famous Theory
-Refers to psychological challenge of resolving
African heritage with White/European
society, education, and culture
-Two cultures in conflict to create an African
American identity, not just African and not
just white American, but a mixture
-The internalizing of this conflict is referred to
as “Double Consciousness”
-People begin to see themselves through the
negative images of other people (racism), and
as a result, low self-esteem.
Political Implications:
-Lifelong anti-war activist
-1949: Spoke at Scientific and Cultural Conference for
World Peace
-Targeted by the government's anti-communist
McCarthyism campaign in 1950s
-Became chairman of the Peace Information Center
(PIC), which resulted in the government confiscating
his passport for eight years - recovered in 1960 and was
able to cross the Atlantic in order to celebrate the
Republic of Ghana.
○
1961: “Encyclopedia Africana”
-U.S. government refused to renew passport in 1963, so
Dubois made a statement by becoming a citizen of
Ghana. He died shortly after.
Dubois on his 95th birthday in Ghana
Similar Views
- Southern Horrors
-Wells and Du Bois joined forces (along
with others) in 1906 to further the Niagara
Movement
-One of two African American women to
sign “the call” to form the NAACP in 1909.
-One of few African American leaders to
argue against Booker T. Washington
-Similar approach and actions against
lynching as Du Bois
- Introduced NAACP to keeping records for
lynching
Other Publications and Awards
-Non Fiction Texts:
●
The Study of Negro Problems (1898)
The Philadelphia Negro (1899)
●
The Talented Tenth (1903)
The Negro (1915)
The Black Reconstruction in America (1935)
Black Folk, Then and Now (1939)
And Many More...
●
NAACP’s Spingarn
Medal (1920)
USSR’s International
Lenin Peace Prize (1959)
United States Postal
Service honored Du Bois
with his portrait on a
postage stamp (1992)
Works Cited
"Atlanta Exposition Address, 1895." Black History Bulletin 1 (2005): 18. Academic OneFile. Web. 19 Oct. 2014
Johnson, Donald. "W.E.B. DuBois, Thomas Jesse Jones and the Struggle for Social Education, 1900-1930." The Journal of Negro History 2000: 71.
JSTOR Journals. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Perdue, Theda. "CHAPTER ONE. Beyond The Atlanta Compromise." Georgia Southern University Jack N. and Addie D. Averitt Lecture Series. 7.
Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2010. Project MUSE. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Phillips, Michelle H. "The Children Of Double Consciousness: From The Souls Of Black Folk To The Brownies' Book." PMLA:
Publications Of The Modern Language Association Of America 128.3 (2013): 590. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 20 Oct.
2014.
Seaton, Corey. "'W.E.B. Dubois & Booker T. Washington: Approaches To Developing Citizenship Post-Reconstruction In The America'." Kola 1
(2014): 51. Academic OneFile. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Westbrook, Randall O. "Becoming An Exceptional Man: The Early Political Thought Of W.E.B. Dubois." Lincoln Journal Of Social & Political
Thought 6.1 (2008): 36-56. Political Science Complete. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
http://www.naacp.org/pages/naacp-history-w.e.b.-dubois
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_people_dubois.html
http://www.webdubois.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/w-e-b-du-bois-georgia