African American people have encountered political, social and economic challenges that have, in many ways, shaped the way they think and perceive the issues that surround their race from the time of slavery to this day. As a way of fighting disadvantages and injustice, African Americans such as WEB Dubois and Alain Locke have introduced their philosophical views and studies of that African American race and the racism that has oppressed them for decades. In this paper, I’m going to introduce a short biography of the African American philosophers WEB Du Bois and Alain Locke compare and contrast their approaches to philosophical issues pertaining racism. WEB Du Bois was an African American Philosopher, educator and journalist born on February …show more content…
23, 1868 in Massachusetts. He attended Fisk University in 1866 where he obtained a bachelor’s degree and continued his studies at Harvard University where he completed his PhD in History. Du Bois founded the Niagram Movement Association for Colored People (NAACP) in 1909 where he was the editor of its magazine. The organization focused on eliminating racial inequality and fought for the economic, political and social benefits of African American people. However, Du Bois was later fired from his own organization in 1934. The Talented Tenth was a term used by Dubois in one of his writings called The Negro Problem in 1903. In this piece of work Du Bois advocates for the higher education of African American people. He believed that African Americans needed their separate classical education in order to achieve their higher educational potential and status, by doing that those people can go back to their communities and help other African Americas to also succeed. Du Boi Ran for the senate of New York in 1950. However, he was put on FBI surveillance and his passport was revoked. He was the first to use the term Afro-centric, because indeed the believed that African Americans the superior race and not the insignificant race that white people want to portrait. He renounced his US citizenship and moved to Ghana in 1961 because he wanted to live in a socialist society. In his Article Soles of Black Folks in 1903, WEB Du Bois Explains how African Americans need to navigate their won determination of their future. He believed that African Americans has the necessity to create their own identity and they have to be careful of how they think about their own. Moreover, African American should always support their won institutions not the white institution and neglect the notion implanted to them that white institutions were always better. Alain Locke was another famous African American philosopher born in Philly in 1886. Like Du Bois he attended Harvard University where he obtained his B.A in 19o7 and later his PhD in Philosophy. He was the first African American to win the Rhodes Scholar. He became the Chair of the philosophy department at Hard at Harvard University (1921-1953). In his work, The New Negro in 1925 Locke discusses the responsibilities of African Americans, as he thinks they should change the way they think about themselves. He believed that “black” people have to mentally free themselves form the believe that they are inferior. The New Negro focuses on the immediate pressing social and economic conditions of African Americans and it portraits them as perfect people who have should be proud of their race. One of the similarities that both Alain Locke and Du Bois share is that they both addressed the inferiority issue that African Americans had with themselves.
They both challenge African Americans to see their worth and to see themselves as a superior race. Moreover, both Du bois and Locke are pragmatic, they focus on the reality of the prejudice and the racial discrimination faced by African Americans and the try to find a logical solution. Du Bois believes that African Americans need separate schools as a short-term solution in order to receive proper education because of race and prejudice. He argues that predominant white institutions do not welcome African American student and that as long there are equal resources given to schools for “white” and “black” people, he does not see a problem in segregated schools. He explains that the main problem is that “white” schools get more resources than white. De bois explains that economic resources distribution is the main reason why African American people cannot get proper education. On the other hand, Alain Lacke suggested that there is an inherent inequality in a dual system and being separate is inheriting unequal. He believes that by allowing integrated schools it will create a positive environment that could be long term beneficial and it could be done through two factors; Dejure, which is through legislation or legal policies and Defacto, which is a change the social believe that black people are inferior. Similar both …show more content…
Lacke and De bois agree on the allocation of resources is a problem but Locke thinks that it is the state’s responsibility to fix this issue. Both of these philosophers seem to have, for the most part, realistic views of the issues faced by African Americans.
However, I have to say that I sided more with Du Bois Ideology and I will explain why. It has been decades since these philosophers started to fight social injustice and racial discrimination and until these days little to no change have been made. We see things like police brutality, where the life of a “black’ person is less valuable that a “white” one. We see massive incarceration of African American man for committing minor crimes and a “white” man that massacres a multitude is not a criminal but a “poor” mental ill person. I believe that no matter how hard we fight racism and social injustice it is always going to be present in our society no matter what. If we have segregated schools with equal resources distributed at least we’re going to make sure that African Americans are receiving the proper education they deserve. Moreover, Locke’s idea of “The New Negro” where he thinks that by African Americans redefining themselves and becoming new people is going to fix the racial problem is not realistic. No matter how educated African American get, they are still not recognized as the intellectual race that they are. Art and poetry is not going to make African Americans be accepted in this racist society. No matter how hard and educated African Americans get, they’re still making less money that “white” people. Locke mas a more universal philosophy where he
is more concern about integration of all races. While Du bois is more concern about the equal distribution of resources and his vies are more Afrocentric. They were both born a generation off from slavering and they were active during the Harlem Renaissance, a time period where African Americans were starting to write poetry and be recognize for their work.
This week I read the short article on Alan Locke’s, “Enter the New Negro”. This article is discussing the Negro problem in depth. “By shedding the chrysalis of the Negro problem, we are achieving something like spiritual emancipation”. Locke believes that if we get rid of whatever is holding us back we would gain something renewing and beautiful.
Omi & Winant, Bonilla-Silva, and Loveman all have different approach in understanding the distinction between ethnicity and race. Omi & Winant and Bonilla-silva all made a distinction between ethnicity and race, and study race through the lens of power relation, while Loveman argued that it is important to study these two side by side. DuBois articulate blackness as both race and ethnicity with the approach of “Double-Consciousness”.
For as long as I can remember, racial injustice has been the topic of discussion amongst the American nation. A nation commercializing itself as being free and having equality for all, however, one questions how this is true when every other day on the news we hear about the injustices and discriminations of one race over another. Eula Biss published an essay called “White Debt” which unveils her thoughts on discrimination and what she believes white Americans owe, the debt they owe, to a dark past that essentially provided what is out there today. Ta-Nehisi Coates published “Between the World and Me,” offering his perspective about “the Dream” that Americans want, the fear that he faced being black growing up and that black bodies are what
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois are two incredibly famous civil rights activists in United States history. Although they both sought to uplift blacks socially and economically across the country, they clashed over the best strategy for doing so. Coming from vastly different backgrounds, it’s understandable as to why they disagreed. However, as is evident by our current societal problems, Du Bois was the one who had the correct plan. That doesn’t mean that Washington’s ideas were wrong, but they were a temporary solution to a permanent and systematic problem.
Although W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T Washington were very different, they undoubtedly influenced the Black population of the United States. Du Bois, although supported communism, excellent in a utopian society yet devastating in reality, had his people's interest at heart. Booker T Washington, founder of Tuskegee Institute, did help some Black population's problems, yet he was more interested with the White culture and its ideals.
Du Bois argues in this quote that “basic racial difference between human beings and had suffered not change,” meaning that racism is still a pressing issue. In this quote he essentially asks the questions, why wont the idea of racism die? Du Bois then links the persistence of racism to economic incentives when he states, “and clung to it… the modern African slave trade a tremendous economic structure and eventually the industrial revolution had been based on racial differences.” As illustrated in this quote, the link between economics and racial indifferences is one reason Du Bois offers as an explanation for why racism has been able persist even until today. The perpetuation of racism and racial difference is how society allocates status and wealth, while socialization maintains the idea of racism Du Bois argues
The Similarities and Differences of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois’s Views 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
The differences of their philosophies were clearly shown in their writings—Booker T. Washington’s “Up from slavery” and Du Bois’s “The Souls of Black Folk”. Before we analyze the similarities and differences of both of the leaders, we have to look at their early life experiences as it can be an important factor on how and where they get their inspiration for their philosophies. Booker T. Washington was an influential leader during his time and a philosopher that always addressed the philosophy of self-help, racial unity and accommodation. He had preached and urged all the black people to simply accept the discrimination that they got and asked them to work hard to gain material prosperity (Painter 169). In his
Racism is not only a crime against humanity, but a daily burden that weighs down many shoulders. Racism has haunted America ever since the founding of the United States, and has eerily followed us to this very day. As an intimidating looking black man living in a country composed of mostly white people, Brent Staples is a classic victim of prejudice. The typical effect of racism on an African American man such as Staples, is a growing feeling of alienation and inferiority; the typical effect of racism on a white person is fear and a feeling of superiority. While Brent Staples could be seen as a victim of prejudice because of the discrimination he suffers, he claims that the victim and the perpetrator are both harmed in the vicious cycle that is racism. Staples employs his reader to recognize the value of his thesis through his stylistic use of anecdotes, repetition and the contrast of his characterization.
Locke begins his article by questioning the reader if the use of terms such as "Negro art" and "Negro literature"are legitimate or products of our racial prejudice. He then poses the first of two main questions, "Who is Negro?" Using a quote from Richard Wright, Locke begins a series of arguments to illustrate that there is no definitive body of "The Negro". First Locke denies that what some call the black experience in America even exists. He argues that if the real Negro experience in America is defined as living a life of hardship and struggle or living a life of poverty, then this could apply to anyone, regardless of their race. He refers to this experience as being, "...common denominator proletarian rather than racially distinctive" - meaning a working class experience rather than a "black" experience. Locke then goes on to talk about the complexity of the ...
“The New Negro” as described by Alain Locke is seeking social justice, however he is doing so in a way different from the various forms of resistance that preceded him. Locke describes a shift from radicalism in the fight for social justice to a need to build a relationship between races. The “New Negro” has come to the realization that assimilation into American culture is not a viable answer; therefore he has decided to build his own culture in collaboration with American culture. The construction of this culture became known as The New Negro Movement or The Harlem Renaissance. This was the attempt by the black community to birth for themselves a status quo in which they were no longer defined by their oppressors’ views.
W.E.B. & C.B. Du Bois articulates the true meaning of the problem of the color-line through his vast knowledge of American history and descriptive personal scenarios. Du Bois attempts to explain why the "problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line" (Dubois 13). In his essay, Du Bois uses both a rational and an emotional appeal by underlining the facts of racial discrimination through Jim Crow Laws and lynching, and his personal references of childhood memories to demonstrate his perspective of the problems of African Americans. Du Bois effectively reaches his audience by earnestly convincing the people of the North and the South that African Americans are human beings of flesh and blood. They have their own cultures, beliefs, and most importantly, souls.
Du Bois, was the competing ideology at the time. Du Bois rose to prominence and became a great African-American leader in his own right around the time Washington was at his peak. Du Bois respected Washington but largely disagreed with his vision of black society and progression. Du Bois was a leader in several radical (at the time) organizations such as the Conference of Negro Problems and the Niagara Movement. (Lecture 9/27). With a background steeped in education, Du Bois also has a significantly different up-bringing than Washington. In part, this may explain some of the differences in their ideologies. In his book, The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois addresses Washington and his vision directly. Although Du Bois recognizes Washington’s successes and the caution in which Washington has had to employ in the South, Du Bois is still critical of him. “But aside from this, there is among educated and thoughtful colored men in all parts of the land a feeling of deep regret, sorrow, and apprehension at the wide currency and ascendency which some of Mr. Washington’s theories have gained.” (Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk, pg.36). Washington’s Atlanta Compromise received acclaim but the submissive tone and ideology is what Du Bois is critical of. This quote expresses the emotions felt by not just Du Bois but other educated black men and women throughout the country realizing the errors made in the speech. The acclaim the speech received is also an issue here
Rudolph, Alexander Jr. Racism, African Americans and Social Justice. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005. 71. Print.
Therefore Black Consciousness’ main belief was, that racial domination had become internalized, thus causing low self-esteem, which in turn allowed room for political disunity and encouraged a dependence on white leadership. The philosophy of Black Consciousness was to break this set of attitudes and form a new belief in black self-reliance and dignity. It was only when this was achieved could black the man truly be liberated both physically and mentally. The Black Consciousness philosophy was an agenda for ideological realignment and political revitalization, which could rebuild and recondition the mind of the oppressed. This ideology brought a new sophistication and insight into the analysis of African psychology.