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In the book, “The Souls of Black Folk,” by W. E. B. Du Bois, Du Bois states that the problem of the era which is during the twentieth century, is the issue of the color line. The color line was originally used to describe racial segregation that existed in the United States after the abolition of slavery. Du Bois breaks down his book into four different categories or concepts and these concepts are categorized as the years following the Civil War, his experience as a school teacher in what was the rural Tennessee, his thoughts and examinations of the rural African American life, and finally he concentrates on how racial prejudice impacts individuals to an extent. His thesis or purpose of this book was to install a new consciousness into African …show more content…
He states that the Bureau failed not only because of mismanagement and opposition towards blacks in the southern half of the country, but also due to court systems that were biased in their decisions. Although the Bureau had more cons than pros, one of the main pros that the Bureau had was the creation of schools for African Americans. Du Bois states that once the Reconstruction era ended in 1876, the single most important event in African American history was the when Booker T. Washington, who was an educator at the time rose up and became a spokesman of sorts for the African American culture. Despite the thoughts and opinions of others, Du Bois states that his belief is that Washington’s acceptance on segregation and his views and emphasis on materialistic products were the wrong way to go about things as far as the appropriate approach should’ve been. Du Bois also states that three main rights or values that African Americans should be able to have our the right to vote, to have civic equality, and to also have the right to education of youth based on their ability or skill set, but he believes that all of these have been limited due to Washington’s approach. He emphasizes that African Americans lost the right to vote, the loss of aid for institutions with higher education, and the right to have a civil status due to Washington’s
Life on the Color Line is a powerful tale of a young man's struggle to reach adulthood, written by Gregory Howard Williams - one that emphasizes, by daily grapples with personal turmoil, the absurdity of race as a social invention. Williams describes in heart wrenching detail the privations he and his brother endured when they were forced to remove themselves from a life of White privilege in Virginia to one where survival in Muncie, Indiana meant learning quickly the cold hard facts of being Black in skin that appeared to be White. This powerful memoir is a testament to the potential love and determination that can be exhibited despite being on the cusp of a nation's racial conflicts and confusions, one that lifts a young person above crushing social limitations and turns oppression into opportunity.
Based on the title of the book alone, it is easy to say that racism is one of the many social issues this book will address. Unlike the normal racism of Caucasians versus African Americans, this book focuses on racism of the black elite versus African Americans, also known as colorism. Colorism is the discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically by others of the same racial group. Margo Jefferson says, “Negroland is my name for a small region of Negro America where residents were sheltered by a certain amount of privilege and plenty” (p. 1).
Although many laws were passed that recognized African Americans as equals, the liberties they had been promised were not being upheld. Hoffman, Blum, and Gjerde state that “Union League members in a North Carolina county, upon learning of three or four black men who ‘didn’t mean to vote,’ threatened to ‘whip them’ and ‘made them go.’ In another country, ‘some few colored men who declined voting’ were, in the words of a white conservative, ‘bitterly persecute[ed]” (22). Black codes were also made to control African Americans. Norton et al. states that “the new black codes compelled former slaves to carry passes, observe a curfew, live in housing provided by a landowner, and give up hope of entering many desirable occupations” (476). The discrimination and violence towards African Americans during this era and the laws passed that were not being enforced were very disgraceful. However, Reconstruction was a huge stepping stone for the way our nation is shaped today. It wasn’t pretty but it was the step our nation needed to take. We now live in a country where no matter the race, everyone is considered equal. Reconstruction was a success. Without it, who knows where our nation would be today. African American may have never gained the freedoms they have today without the
W.E.B Du Bois strategy can be evaluated as ceaseless agitation as stated in The Niagara Movement "If we expect to gain our rights by nerveless acquiescence in wrong, then we expect to do what no other nation ever did. What must we do then? We must complain. Yes, plain, blunt complain, ceaseless agitation, unfailing exposure of dishonesty and wrong- this is the ancient, unerring way to liberty, and we must follow it." For this time period, this strategy is inefficient because he only thought about a small percentage of the Black race. As like Washington, he to wanted them to go to top colleges, get a great education, and in some way he thought that they were going to become the intelligence whole Black nation.
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 said in his speech, “We want discrimination in public accommodation to cease.” (5). This is literally what the quote says. The discrimination against African Americans had become overwhelming. Similarly, Booker T. said, “The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the [extremist] folly…must be the result of severe and [constant] struggle, rather than of artificial forcing…” (11). Again, Washington wanted to end discrimination against all races. They both wanted, and exceeded, to make racial relations better. Likewise, they both wanted to end racial discrimination. Additionally, they both had similar reasons for racial discrimination. In paragraph 8, Booker T. Washington said, “While doing this you can be sure in the future, as you have been in the past, that you and your families will be surrounded by the most patient, faithful, law-abiding, and unresentful people that the world has seen.” He is indicating that African Americans are trustworthy, but Caucasians still don’t trust them. Caucasians either supported African Americans or didn’t, and many did the latter because they didn’t trust African Americans. W.E.B Du Bois also said in paragraph 6, "We claim the right of freemen to walk, talk, and be with them that wish to be with us. No man has a right to choose another man’s friend, and attempt to do so is an impudent interference with the most
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
In The Soul of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois talks about the struggles that the African Americans faced in the twentieth century. Du Bois mentions the conflict that concepts such as the “double consciousness” (or duality), “the veil” and the “color-line” posed for Black Americans. In his book he says that African Americans struggle with a double consciousness. He explicates that African American are forced to adopt two separate identities. First they are black, and that identity pertains to the color of their skin, the second identity is the American identity. However, he continues that the American identity is tainted because it is that if being American now but were slaves first. In other words, the double consciousness is saying that black people
E. B. Du Bois indicated that the dominant influence that Booker T. Washington had on Blacks came at a time when there was less attention on the memories of war and more focus towards the idea of commercialism. Du Bois stated that Washington’s plan of industrial education was not original, that he simply added great enthusiasm as a way to gain an interest of the people. He recognized Washington’s achievements in the South as being the founder of Tuskegee Institute and the most notable achievement in favor of African Americans, his “Atlanta Compromise” speech. As a result, radicals accepted this as an act of surrender to Whites, and conservatives received this as a mutual understanding. Washington then gained attention in the North by grasping the concept that now dominated that area, which was maximizing profits and material
and challenges to African Americans from 1910 until about 1930. Du Bois felt that Americans
Like Washington, Dubois agreed that “blacks” needed to become economically independent and find civil equality. However, W.E.B Dubois was offended at racial injustice and inequality. Du Bois understood Washington’s program, but believed this wasn’t the solution Unlike Washington, he demanded that African Americans should immediately have the right to vote, equal rights, and be granted equal educational opportunities. WEB Dubois wanted educational reform in a way that fulfilled requirements for African American students. WEB Du Bois declared African American demands through his “Declaration of the Principles of the Niagara Movement,” in which he demanded social equality.
Du Bois, when talking of the matter of rights, stated, “...Negroes must insist continually, in season and out of season, that voting is necessary to modern manhood, that color discrimination is barbarism, and that black boys need education as well as white boys” (Document E). What Du Bois says here is important, because it deals with three very important topics all at once. He mentions African-Americans needing the right to vote, how discrimination because of color is very wrong, and how black children need education. All in this one sentence has three important view on different subjects beneath the umbrella of African-Americans being treated the same as white people. The way that Du Bois explains this as well is very forceful, which is needed to get his point across during this time. “What must we do then? We must complain. Yes, plain, blunt complain, ceaseless agitation, unfailing exposure of dishonesty and wrong-- this is the ancient, unerring way to liberty, and we must follow it” (Document D). Complaining in that fashion would prove a point to others about DuBois and the people who followed him. By voicing how they feel about this treatment by
“It should come as no surprise that Washington’s historical conflict culminated as a struggle between him and DuBois” (Gibson III 66). To say the least, both men were very active in the upbringing of African-Americans, but their differences in displaying out the solution was what brought them apart. Washington wanted the education system to enforce industrial teachings that started at lower economic power, while DuBois had more abstract ideas of equality and voting for African-Americans. Washington was conservative in the matter of African-American inclusion into society, hoping that given enough time and progress, people would learn to accept them, rather than fight for social power like what DuBois stood for. Despite Washington’s program that appealed to White-Americans, he was involved in politics and spoke about the disfranchisement of African-Americans. His idea of easing tensions with the superior gathered him more publicity, as to DuBois’s plan of protesting. As a result, DuBois’s idea became more prominent as it branches into what we know now as the civil rights movement. Historically, Washington and DuBois has made a name for themselves, through their intentions for the good will of African-Americans, and that is something that will always hold true in these two notorious
When talking about the history of African-Americans at the turn of the twentieth century, two notable names cannot be left out; Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois. They were both African-American leaders in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, fighting for social justice, education and civil rights for slaves, and both stressed education. This was a time when blacks were segregated and discriminated against. Both these men had a vision to free blacks from this oppression. While they came from different backgrounds, Washington coming from a plantation in Virginia where he was a slave, and Du Bois coming from a free home in Massachusetts, they both experienced the heavy oppression blacks were under in this Post-Civil War society. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois were both pioneers in striving to obtain equality for blacks, yet their ways of achieving this equality were completely different. W.E.B Du Bois is the more celebrated figure today since he had the better method because it didn’t give the whites any power, and his method was intended to achieve a more noble goal than Washington’s.
Du Bois examines the years immediately following the Civil War and, in particular, the Freedmen's Bureau's role in Reconstruction. He feels the Bureau's failures were due not only to Southern opposition and "national neglect," but also to mismanagement and courts that were biased. The Bureau did have successes, and there most important contribution to the progress was the founding of school for African American. Since the end of Reconstruction in 1876, Du Bois claims that the most significant event in African American history has been the coming about of the educator, Booker T. Washington. He then became the spokesman for the ...