W.E.B+Du+Bois

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1868-1898
 W.E.B Du Bois was born into a poor black family in Great Barrington, Massachusetts in the year 1868. He grew up in a very small black community where he was for the most part sheltered from the full effects of racism. Because his parents split up when he was very young, financially things were very tough within his household. Being raised by a single mother, Dubois used to work in a factory trying to make ends meat for his family. Despite all his struggles Dubois received an education. Within his high school he was first in his class becoming the first black to graduate from his school. Not only did he graduate but he was valedictorian. Thanks to aunts, uncles and close friends Du Bois had the opportunity to receive a college education at Fisk College in Nashville Tennessee. Here is where some of the attitudes of the white residents in his new community would forever change his mentality. This racism within the south was not what Du Bois had been used to. Regardless of his color, back home he had earned his respect with the whites. He began his mission to study the treatment of blacks within communities. He encouraged the black race to educate themselves. The more he learned, the more he wanted to help the blacks get the same opportunities as he did. He sought out to teach his race how to surpass the expectations of the white people. He himself surpassed all his expectations by being the first to graduate high school within his family. Although Du Bois was classified as a “black boy” in his small town in Massachusetts, at the end of the day he had gained some respect from the white community because of his education. He was born in a time where blacks were discriminated against and had troubles living a normal life, unlike the whites who had tremendous advantages over them. Therefore, his social location was to be put outside of the peripheral from all the white people from his community. Being surrounded by mostly whites in Massachusetts, Du Bois quickly learned that he was looked at different simply for being black. This made him want to change the world and help remove the racial barriers between them. Du Bois’ father was of Dutch and African descent and decided to desert the family when he was about two years old. He left the family due to Du Bois' mother's family, who didn't like his father's light skin. Without a father in his life, Du Bois had to overcome that, take care of his mother, and be the man of the house. Since his father was no longer around and his mother was unable to work due to a stroke, Du Bois had to help out his mother financially. In order to maintain food on the table, Du Bois worked any job that he could after school. Some of these jobs were cutting lawns and selling various items like tea and newspapers. He also wrote for a few newspaper companies including the Springfield Republican and the New York Age. He did all of this to socially locate himself in a better position than what he was in now, he wanted to prove to the white community that yes, although he was black, he could work hard for his money. All he wanted was respect and a higher place from the peripheral that he was already in. This is very surprising considering he was an under advantaged black teenager who was quite poor. Du Bois took advantage of writing in the newspaper, and wrote about how blacks need to start politicizing themselves in society. In these days, most blacks had troubles living on their own but Du Bois managed to overcome these times and provide for both him and his mother as a teenager. On top of working to keep food on the table for his family, Du Bois also knew he had to get a good education so that he could do something with his life.  Du Bois went to Great Barrington High School and graduated in 1885. By graduating as valedictorian and as the only black in his class, he proved to his small white town that blacks were no different than whites and that they deserved the same respect. Also, being the first black to graduate in his high school, I'm sure he was segregated as a student. When he became valedictorian, he chose to give a speech on Wendell Phillips, who was an abolitionist who fought for the rights of blacks and other major controversies in the nation at the time. When his benefactor and principal, Frank Hosmer, noticed how intelligent Du bois was, he was encouraged to continue on to college and expand his studies. Du Bois knew that attending college would be tough considering his race and money situation, but he was still determined to overcome this. After being denied acceptance into Harvard due to their high tuition price and his high school's low level of education, Du Bois decided to attend Fisk University in the south. Fisk was an all-black school, which was a lot different to him because he lived in Massachusetts and attended an all-white class. While attending this school, his social location had changed from being an “outsider” to finally “fitting in” in a place that made him feel comfortable. This experience at Fisk was a first for Du Bois because he had never been in the south or a place where he was the dominant race before. Du Bois’ classmates were mostly from the south so they were able to explain the truth about the horrors of the South’s racial violence against blacks. The realization of horrid life was in the south for blacks made him want to fix it and better his race’s wellbeing. While Du Bois attended Fisk University, he was the editor of the school’s newspaper; Fisk Herald. He turned the Fisk Herald into something that would help African Americans get their thoughts and opinions out into the world. By doing this, Du Bois starts to help the advancement of Blacks by giving them a voice and letting them express their thoughts with the rest of the world. After Du Bois graduated from Fisk in 1888, he attended Harvard. He was denied acceptance to the University a few years before, but he attended Fisk and applied again once he graduated. Just because Harvard denied him the first time didn’t stop Du Bois from giving up. He kept fighting for what he wanted until he overcame his disadvantages of being poor and black. Harvard accepted him into the University but only as an undergraduate. Since Du Bois was rather poor and could not afford the high prices of Harvard’s tuition, he was awarded the Price Greenleaf Award, which gave him two hundred and fifty dollars towards his tuition. He achieved three degrees from Harvard including a doctorate. Which was a very big deal at this time because he was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. “[Du Bois] wrote his dissertation on ‘The Suppression of the African Slave Trade,’ the first scientific monograph by a black American and the first published by the prestigious Harvard Historical Series” ("W. E. B. Du Bois," 1998). Du Bois overcame his disadvantages of being a poor black man at a time where racism was very prevalent in the United States. Being the first to accomplish something, as Du Bois did, opens up a world of opportunities for others trying to progress in the same direction. Since Du Bois was the first to receive a doctorate, he opened up the opportunities for other blacks to do the same. He gave spirit and confidence to other blacks that may not have had the motivation that he did. Therefore, his social location from the rest of the black community was considered to be heroic. They all wanted to follow in his footsteps. They thought, if one of our kind can do it, so can I. In 1897, Du Bois and Alexander Crummell founded the American Negro Academy. “In a pamphlet entitled Conservation of the Races, Du Bois wrote: ‘We need our race organizations; we must lead our own liberation.’” ("W. E. B. Du Bois," 1998). After Du Bois started working for the University of Pennsylvania, he taught a course on the study of black people. This book that he published was called The Philadelphia Negro, which would now be called urban sociology. Du Bois was always trying to do better for his race so he decided to do a study on blacks. This would help other blacks understand their own race and help advance them in American society. It would also help whites understand black culture and their struggles to succeed in the world. In 1898, Du Bois gave the Fisk commencement address where he told graduates to help uplift the black communities across the United States. This speech was given to the graduates so that they would help advance their race and constantly better themselves in this time where blacks were looked down upon and discriminated against in society. Du Bois was constantly trying to help out his black community in many different ways.


 * Du Bois, becoming a leader **

He felt very passionate about his race in a time when racial discrimination was everywhere. He was constantly trying to banish race boundaries. His race and class held him back tremendously. The whites at Harvard did not see past the fact that Du Bois was a “negro”. They banned African American men from dorms at Harvard. The African American parents, who were also former graduates, took it to the Dean, he agreed that they deserve the same education, but should not have to be put in the same social situations i.e. living together. The Dean of Harvard respected them as alumni of Harvard but not enough to look past their race. Harvard allowed Du Bois to be a part of the student body but the white students did not want to associate with him. He gravitated toward his African American peers in Boston and colleges in surrounding areas. He left Harvard with very few friends, but with a PhD. He was the first African American to earn a PhD from Harvard University. His PhD allowed him to set his own boundaries because the majority of African Americans did not go to college. What separated Du Bois from his peers was that he was a dominant force in showing white America that African Americans were not inferior and uneducated in the 1890s. He was constantly trying to find aid to advance his education because he grew up in poverty. He saw his opportunity in a newspaper article. This article was his key to study abroad in Berlin. Du Bois did not hesitate to apply even though, he doubted they would accept his application. His offer was later declined as were all the other African American participants. Du Bois voiced his opinion directly to former president Hayes, who owned The Slater Fund. Du Bois felt this rejection deserved an apology on behalf of all African Americans. The Slater Fund scholarship founded by former President Hayes was a gimmick because whites at the time did not think African Americans could possess any intelligence, which proved to Du Bois that whites thought African Americans were inferior and did not want them to receive higher education. Eventually, the former president granted him the chance to go, Du Bois was willing to seek justice for African Americans. Even though, he got the opportunity to study abroad, two compelling forces in his life almost did not let him go to Europe. He was African American and in poverty.


 * Studying Abroad **

 Du Bois eventually, found his place in Europe. He was not his shy reserved self, like at Harvard, he opened up. He crossed race and sex boundaries when he spoke with Dutch women. A few years prior, at Harvard, the white women did not approach him, but in Germany they often struck up conversation with him. Du Bois, like many African Americans, only spoke when spoken to and one incident at Harvard when a white woman refused to take a card from Du Bois made him feel as though all white women and whites in general, were wary of him. Ironically, He fell in love with Dora, a white woman from Germany, but he refused to marry her. He wanted to glorify the African American race; he did not feel he could do that with a white wife or even a “light-skinned “wife. At the moment, Du Bois set boundaries for himself as far as marriage and relationships. He did not want the African American people to think that he was a hypocrite and he wanted to represent them. He stayed in Europe until about 1894. After he left Europe, he felt the need to enlighten African Americans. The best way to do is this was to be a professor at Harvard. Even though, he had proven his credibility when he attended school at Harvard, they still did not accept him. He looked elsewhere and got the recognition from Wilberforce, which later became “America’s First College owned and Operated by African Americans”(Wolters 2003). Wilberforce constantly challenged Du Bois’s religion. They did this mainly, to prove that he was unreligious. Du Bois served as an influence to many undergraduate students at other universities. Students at Cornell would hold book clubs to discuss his books; they would often compare his works, such as “The Souls of Black Folk”, to religious texts.

Du Bois concluded that Wilberforce had a “lack of genuine religion” (Blum, 2007) and they did not improve the lives of African Americans, something that he was very prominent about. Du Bois felt that “science replaced faith in God” (Blum, 2007). He was once investigated by the FBI for being a communist and having no religious ties. He finally got approval when he quoted the Bible in one of his speeches, the irony is that some believe he is one of the "most profound religious thinkers”, partly because he was thinking ahead of his time. (Blum, 2007) Du Bois “used religious idioms to wrestle the control of black selfhood away from whites” (Blum, 2007).  Even though, Wilberforce questioned his religious affiliations it still allowed him to cross boundaries. By age twenty-six, he was making close to $1000 a year in Ohio as a professor so whites would view him not as a “lower-class black” (Wolters, 2003). By 1897, he felt he was becoming too middle class even though, he represented the top ten percent of African Americans. He was placed among the "Talented Tenth", which represents the African Americans in demanding professions such as law, medicine, business, and education. He did not want to be too middle class because he wanted to show that he was similar to the other 90% of African Americans even though, he truly was on a level reserved for the educated and enlightened. For the next thirteen years Du Bois taught at Atlanta University


 * His Rivals **

 Unlike many of the other black leaders Du Bois sought to unite the African Americans and uplift them. Other prominent African American leaders, such as Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey, wanted to put the blame on African Americans for being inferior to whites. They also wanted to live up to white ideals; Garvey said that he constantly battled with being a “black-white” (Wolters 2003) because was seeking their approval. Du Bois on the other hand wanted to uplift the African Americans and prove that it was the whites who were pushing them away from equality. Du Bois felt threatened by Washington’s political background and his “relationship” with President Roosevelt, whom Du Bois felt was not helping the African Americans. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The NAACP

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">In 1905, The Niagara Movement encouraged all men to join the “ protest against racial insult, against the denial of civil rights and against discrimination” (Wolters, 2003). <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;"> In 1909, Du Bois along with other African Americans established the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Du Bois founded the NAACP in order to continue his work at reliving racial tensions and converse with like-minded individuals who felt the same way. NAACP sought leadership in Du Bois because of his work in the Niagara Movement. What separated the Niagara Movement from the NAACP was the amount of funding and supporters it had. The NAACP was built off the principles of The Niagara Movement <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">While at the NAACP, “some thought Du Bois ought to become chairman of the group, but he opted to become director of publicity and research (NAACP, 2009). He followed politics closely and in 1912, he went against his original party and went for a Democratic candidate, Wilson, he felt that the Wilson would help the equality efforts. Unfortunately, he was left behind when the Wilson won and did not even acknowledge his promises. Many African Americans were drafted into World War I to fight with the white men. They were unequal as civilians but equal in the war. This sparked many African American publications such as the Cleveland Gazette, the Chicago defender, and the New York Age. Du Bois found support in Major Spingarn, who was ironically a white male who “persuaded the House Judiciary Committee to hold hearings on an anti-lynching bill” (Wolters, 2003). Spingarn wanted Du Bois to fight alongside him as Captain. They created a great bond even though they were socially located differently. Nevertheless, Du Bois was considered to be in poverty; lower class compared to white men; however, he was very wealthy within the black community.


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Crimes against African Americans **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Du Bois used the NAACP to put a stop to the harsh treatment of African Americans. Most specifically he brought a petition against the 1915 film The Birth of A Nation. He felt the film brainwashed white America into believing that what was happening at the time with lynching and crimes against African Americans was okay. He brought many issues at Harvard to light, as well. He felt that white America was pushing for "Americanization" that all Americans were equal but in reality they still did boundary work to keep African Americans from advancing and most importantly freedom. Americanization was a recurring topic in New York in the turn of the century. Whether it be the role of women in the home or how much their values change while living in white America”, like the women described Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars (Ewen, 1985). They came to America to live a "better life" and made them “managers and employers of labor" (Lewis, 2000).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;"> Whites were accusing African Americans of crimes they did not commit and treated them cruelly. Most specifically University of Missouri, taught a class on lynching demonstrated that it was something that was accepted in the white community. The university felt as “long as mob execution was a nationally approved institution, university students should have firsthand instruction so as to understand exactly what lynching is” (Lewis, 2000). It was this type of behavior that kept the African Americans in fear of the whites supremacy used lynching make sure blacks could not cross boundaries. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Du Bois fought alongside the NAACP to speak out against racial injustice they showed support by spending thousands of dollars defending those who were accused of crimes they did not commit. In 1910, ninety percent of African Americans saw some upheaval. Their wages had increased which meant the African Americans women did not need to enter the workforce, unlike white women during the turn of the century in New York (Lewis, 2000).


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Social Theory **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;"> Du Bois placed comparisons on the laborers of Marxism and African Americans. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Karl Marx and Du Bois were extremely similar, many people did not understand their theories and often questioned them, but today they are seen as brilliant they were ahead of their time. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Marx discusses the boundary work that the capitalists do to keep laborers earnings low. Marxism was seen to benefit all people. The workers strive to get rid of the higher class <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">But the whites saw a problem with blurring boundary lines “Most people for instance, looked upon private ownership of land as a natural and God-given thing” (Du Bois, 2004) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;"> Education is the ultimate quality that separated whites and African Americans <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">The whites felt with an education they would acquire knowledge and revolt. Du Bois proposed that education and health care should be free. “Illiteracy is a crime “(Lewis, 2000). Du Bois did not feel the need to blur boundary lines either. He often insisted that African Americans and American as two separate entities and he "keeps it from being torn asunder” (Lewis, 2000). The two entities battle each other and Du Bois just wants them to be equal.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Du Bois had setup many Pan African conferences, with the first one being in 1919 in France. At the conferences he expressed his ideas of self government for blacks under colonial powers. This means Du Bois stretched his ideas of the independence of African Americans, rather than being ruled by the government. His conference in 1919 failed due to lack of enthusiasm from supporters, so he decided to set up a few other Pan African conferences in 1921 and 1923. Du Bois was known for never quitting at what he set out to accomplish and even if he had to set up more conferences, he would. Many of his ideas and differences led him to debate Marcus Garvey, who was a Nationalist leader that wanted to construct WHAT? through economic enterprise and mass education an empire of African descent. Du Bois did not agree with many of Garvey's policies so Du Bois wanted to expose the corruption and mismanagement of Garvey's famous Black Star Shipping Line. Eventually, Garvey got arrested due to his actions and Du Bois was able to restore his viewpoint. It was throughout World War I, Du Bois fought for the rights of African American soldiers. He made a statement that African Americans deserve to be in the Army and that it is constitutionally offensive to mistreat the African American troops. (Reuben 2009). W.E.B Du Bois supported desegregation during world war I, but after the war he started to see it as an opportunity for blacks to take power, in areas such as economics and education witch was controlled by the whites in the larger society at the time. He had expressed this view in the Crisis. His view conflicted directly with the NAACP board and many black leaders, who agreed with Taylor Branch who noted in Parting the Waters, that his comments, "Would bolster the old white racist argument that Negroes fared better under segregation." (Contemporary Black Biography). This dispute and heavy criticism caused Du Bois to resign from the Crisis and went back to being the chairman of the department of sociology at Atlanta University. At Atlanta University he became editor of his new magazine called Phylon. However, he was kicked off the magazine because his views were too extreme (Georgia Libraries 2009). In 1940, he completed his book Dusk of Dawn, which emphasized the long, rough process to achieve liberty (Wangia 2008). Du Bois never lost sight of the big picture he had for the same rights among African American's and whites, even if that meant leaving his own organization due to mixed views among the board. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Period 1941- 1963

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;"> In 1944, the NAACP rehired him as director to manage special research. In 1945 he published Color and Democracy: Colonies and Peace, which lead in polemic, and in 1946 he wrote a controversial pamphlet, "An Appeal to the World”, which was submitted on behalf of African American people to the United Nations Commissions on Civil Rights. A year later he published “The World and Africa”, an examination of the situation in Africa after World War II. By this time, he became one of the biggest proponents of Pan-Africanism, being the driving force of the Pan African Congress which led to African independence, receiving many honors such as the Lenin Peace Prize in 1958 (Rampersad).The actions of W.E.B. Du Bois caused him to be seen as a hero by the African American people, but white people despised him. He helped <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;"> many African Americans people achieve more civil rights.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;"> During his later years in life, Du Bois began to move up in the world via social class. After the Crisis, Du Bois began to refine his views on pan-Africanism and Marxiian Socialism. He wrote Black Reconstruction in America (1935), Black Folk Then and Now (1939), Dusk of Dawn (1940), and Color and Democracy (1945). In 1940 he began Phylon, a journal of social science, published at Atlanta University.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;"> Undermined by the new school administration, Du Bois retired from the faculty of Atlanta University in 1943. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Listen <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Read phonetically