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Biography of William Edward Burghardt DuBois
William Edward Burghardt DuBois, to his admirers, was by spirited devotion and scholarly dedication, an attacker of injustice and a defender of freedom.
A harbinger of Black nationalism and Pan-Africanism, he died in self-imposed exile in his home away from home with his ancestors of a glorious past—Africa.
Labeled as a "radical," he was ignored by those who hoped that his massive contributions would be buried along side of him. But, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, "history cannot ignore W.E.B. DuBois because history has to reflect truth and Dr. DuBois was a tireless explorer and a gifted discoverer of social truths. His singular greatness lay in his quest for truth about his own people. There were very few scholars who concerned themselves with honest study of the black man and he sought to fill this immense void. The degree to which he succeeded disclosed the great dimensions of the man."
His Formative Years
W.E.B. DuBois was born on February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. At that time Great Barrington had perhaps 25, but not more than 50, Black people out of a population of about 5,000. Consequently, there were little signs of overt racism there. Nevertheless, its venom was distributed through a constant barrage of suggestive innuendoes and vindictive attitudes of its residents. This mutated the personality of young William from good natured and outgoing to sullen and withdrawn. This was later reinforced and strengthened by inner withdrawals in the face of real discriminations. His demeanor of introspection haunted him throughout his life.
While in high school DuBois showed a keen concern for the development of his race. At age fifteen he became the local correspondent for the New York Globe. And in this position he conceived it his duty to push his race forward by lectures and editorials reflecting upon the need of Black people to politicized themselves.
DuBois was naturally gifted intellectually and took pleasurable pride in surpassing his fellow students in academic and other pursuits. Upon graduation from high school, he, like many other New England students of his caliber, desired to attend Harvard. However, he lacked the financial resources to go to that institution. But with the aid of friends and family, and a scholarship he received to Fisk College (now University), he eagerly headed to Nashville, Tennessee to further his education.
This was DuBois' first trip south. And in those three years at Fisk (1885–1888) his knowledge of the race problem became more definite.
W.E.B. DuBois was an educator, writer, scholar, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, and later in his life a communist, whose life goal was to gain equal rights for all African Americans around the world. DuBois’ writings were mostly forgotten till the late 1960s, because of his involvement in communism and his absence during the civil rights movement in America. Even though his writings were temporarily forgotten because of his tarnished reputation, his legacy has since been restored allowing for his writings to be reprinted becoming a major influence for both academics and activists. DuBois’ accomplishments include his part in the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and his support for the civil rights movement advocating for equal social and economic rights for all African Americans. His accomplishments and efforts in order to gain equal treatment for African Americans outweigh his shortcomings and failures.
DuBois was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1868, where the African-American community was small, but for the time, very well respected (McKissack 17). Segregation did not exist (McKissack 17). Economically, DuBois felt "the contrast between the well-to do and the poor was not great. Living was cheap and there was little real poverty" (DuBois 79). His family, while not rich, was not destitute compared to other African-American families during this period. However, DuBois wrote that he "can see that we must have been near the edge of poverty. Yet I was not hungry or in lack of suitable clothing or made to feel unfortunate" (qtd. in Sterne, 3). DuBois’s father, Alfred, left when DuBois was very young and he was raised by his mother, Mary (McKissack 16). Mary emphasized education and hard work as they key to wealth and success (McKissack 16). DuBois inherited this belief, graduating from his high school as the only African-American in his class and...
W. E. B. Du Bois traveling widely in Europe, was delighted by the absence of color consciousness and impressed by their mellow civilization. Still, he knew that his life's work was at home, a...
During the late 19th and early 20th century, racial injustice was very prominent and even wildly accepted in the South. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois were two of the most renowned “pioneers in the [search] for African-American equality in America” (Washington, DuBois, and the Black Future). Washington was “born a slave” who highly believed in the concept of “separate but equal,” meaning that “we can be as [distant] as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress” (Washington 1042). DuBois was a victim of many “racial problems before his years as a student” and disagreed with Washington’s point of view, which led
...s, whose school of thought inspired much of the agitation which, after the break with the 'accommodationist' position of Washington, began to develop in the 1950's and exploded in the 1960's civil rights movement. His influence can be seen best in his prophetic work “The Souls of Black Folk”, a work which many credit for the inspiration of modern civil rights leaders. In it Du Bois describes the scope of American discrimination, and uses it to predict the formation of ‘black consciousness’ and activism in the future (B., Du Bois W. E. Souls of Black Folk.). Thats not to say there were no points of similarity between Washington and DuBois. Both worked against racially motivated violence and the lynchings African Americans faced in the south. Furthermore, while one of his harshest critics, Du Bois also appreciated and acknowledged many of Washington's accomplishments.
Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois are both writers who use realism as their literary mode. They both try to depict life the way it was and didn’t “sugar coat” it. They both also wanted more civil rights to be given to the blacks. Although they lived in the same era they had different opinions on how to get these rights. They think differently about education, racial advancement, and relationships between blacks and whites. Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois’ ideas are reflected in their different writing styles, and different backgrounds, along with his intentions, becoming important when their differences had one of the greatest impacts on the future.
DuBois understands part of the problem. Blacks and whites have become intertwined in a vicious cycle. Slavery itself did not create, but enhanced negative attitudes towards blacks. In quite the same way, the institution of slavery greatly enhanced the way blacks felt about whites. White landowners were responsible for disenfranchisin...
W.E.B. DuBois attempted to tell African Americans what they should learn throughout schooling. He thought academics were of the utmost importance in order for African Americans to exist socially in society. Through academic schooling, he thought that 10 percent of the African American society would succeed and move on to become doctors, lawyers, politicians, etc.; they were called “the talented ten.” The subject material that would advance their learning would consist of the “trivium” and the “quadrivium.” The...
Please discuss what was considered the “Talented Tenth” in detail and provide a succinct and thorough review of what W.E.B. DuBois meant by the “Talented Tenth” and its relevance to the advancement of intellect among Blacks in specific, and for society in general? [Worth 10 points].
Many parallels can be drawn between the works of W.E.B. DuBois and those of James Weldon Johnson. Johnson was greatly influenced by many concepts created by DuBois, especially those presented in DuBois's classic work The Souls of Black Folk. Johnson was so impressed with DuBois and his ideas that he sought him out in 1904 at Atlanta University. The two men developed a strong friendship and later worked for years together in the NAACP, Johnson's diplomatic temperment often balancing DuBois's more volitile one.*
One of them was W.E.B. Du Bois who demanded immediate equality for black people. According to Du Bois, he claimed that “ideas not slogans, principles not personalities were essential to the eradication of the many forms of bigotry and inequality that had perverted what he called “the ideal of human brotherhood” in America” (686). Du bois focused on book smart as the best way for blacks to be free and also be able to earn good living like whites. Both writers have different vision on how to end racial discrimination and regain freedom for blacks. Nevertheless, both authors showed some weakness and strength in their opposition. Even though they very completely have different opinions, their choices made a great impact in black society and they will never be forgotten.
DuBois presents the question “[h]ow does it feel to be a problem?”, introducing the attitude towards African-Americans upon their emancipation (DuBois 3). The idea of freedom for slaves meant equality, but “the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land […] the shadow of a deep disappointment rests upon the Negro people” (6). The challenge faced during this time was how to deal with the now freed slaves who once had no rights. DuBois states that African-Americans merely wish “to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly i...
Print Moore, Jacqueline M. Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Dubois, and the struggle for racial uplift.
To understand the viewpoint of W.E.B Dubois and his argument for having a well-educated African American population, his own background and life experience of the struggle to be African and American must be considered. DuBois is born in the north in Massachusetts where the so-called Negro problem paralyzing the
In the period after Reconstruction the position of African Americans in southern American society steadily deteriorated. After 1877 the possibilities of advancements for African Americans disappeared almost completely. African Americans experienced a loss of voting rights and political power created by methods of terrorization such as lynching. The remaining political and economic gains that were made during reconstruction were eventually whittled away by Southern legislation. By the 1900s African Americans had almost no access to political, social, or economic power. Shortly after this Jim Crow laws began to emerge, segregating blacks and whites. This dramatic transition from African American power to powerlessness after reconstruction gave birth to two important leaders in the African American community, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. Although these two remarkable men were both in search of a common goal, their roads leading to this goal were significantly different. This is most evident in the two most important documents of the men’s careers: Booker T. Washington’s, “1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech” and W.E.B. DuBois’ response to this, “The Souls of Black Folks.” These two men were both dedicated to solving the difficult problems African Americans experienced in the post reconstruction south. Both DuBois and Washington wanted economic prosperity for African Americans but they differed on what would be done to achieve this. Both men focused on education as a key to the improvement of black life but they differed on the form education should take. The true difference in these men’s extremely different routes to better the lives of African Americans after reconstruction was a product of their extremely different backgrounds. In this essay I will examine the documents, “1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech” by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois’, “The Souls of Black Folks” in order to determine the paths that each of these men took towards the advancement of African Americans, and the reasons behind these methods.