The Souls Of Black Folk By W. E. B. Du Bois

In 1899, Du Bois published one of the most popular sociological study on the African American community called The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study which helped set a precedent for his future writings. In the study, Du Bois created a new term called "the talented tenth,” the idea that 1 out of every 10 African Americans had the potential to becoming leader. This helped shift many people’s mentality, including blacks, on the role of African Americans in American society. This ideology, accepted widely throughout the north, encouraged blacks to continue their education, write and express themselves clearly, and personally get involved in social change. Du Bois recognized the inequality based off race and thought that classical education was the only way to close that

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Dubois is a influential work in African American literature and is an American classic. In this book Dubois proposes that "the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line." His concepts of life behind the veil of race and the resulting "double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others," have become touchstones for thinking about race in America. In addition to these lasting concepts, Souls offers an evaluation of the progress of the races and the possibilities for future progress as the nation entered the twentieth century.

Tasked with a large-scale study of Philadelphia’s Black community by the University of Pennsylvania, Du Bois used it as an opportunity to conduct a sociological study which did not assume the inherent inferiority and pathology of Blacks. The veil prohibited Whites, including White scholars from the University of Pennsylvania, from seeing Blacks as equal members of American society. In turn, explanations for poverty and illiteracy between the races were inevitably traced back to a notion of inherent racial inferiority among Blacks. Though the study was commissioned in part to come up with solutions to deal with the “Negro Problem,” Du Bois considered African Americans as a relevant and worthwhile subject of study to understand inequality in an urban setting. He provided an explicit examination of the “color line” and conducted a study which explicitly included Blacks as worthwhile subjects of study. By not assuming their inferiority or eliminating their humanity, Du Bois was able to collect empirical evidence showing that instances of poverty in the Black community were not due to hereditary deficiency, but due to their environmental and social conditions, particularly the “historical circumstances and legacy of slavery, race prejudice, and competition with foreigners who had the experience of freedom and the advantage of white skin” (Du Bois

W.E.B. DuBois, in The Souls of Black Folk describes the very poignant image of a veil between the blacks and the whites in his society. He constructs the concept of a double-consciousness, wherein a black person has two identities as two completely separate individuals, in order to demonstrate the fallacy of these opinions. J.S. Mill also describes a certain fallacy in his own freedom of thought, a general conception of individuals that allows them to accept something similar to DuBois’ double-consciousness and perpetuates the existence of the veil.

In writing his revolutionary book to what he knew would be a largely skeptical audience, Du Bois pleaded that his audience listen to his words by writing, “And now what I have briefly sketched in a large outline, let me on coming pages tell again in many ways, with loving emphasis and deeper detail, that men may listen to the striving in the souls of black folk” (Du Bois 1994: 7). Du Bois opens his book with a plea for empathy so that individuals can recognize their own ignorance about inequality than cling to it. He understands that in order to actualize liberal ideals of freedom and individualism, society must first accept that everyone is due these ideals; these ideals can only be universalizable through his readers’ empathy . Omi and Winant support that actualization of liberal ideals needs empathy by explicitly stating that, “Once we recognize the racial dimension present to some degree in every identity, institution and social practice in the United States—once we have done this, it becomes possible to speak of racial formation”(Omi and Winant 1994: 6-7). Both works then find that recognition of oppression would then indeed open a forum to pursue liberal ideals of freedom and individualism since it would

In the first four paragraphs of W.E.B. Du Bois’ “The Souls of Black Folk”, he develops two central ideas which interact with each other. These central ideas are the idea of a “vast veil” (para 2), and that of a “double-consciousness” (para 3). The vast veil represents the separation between whites and blacks or American and African, as shown by the quote “But shut out of their [white people] world by a vast veil” (para 3). The double-consciousness is one of the terms used for the duality of the black souls, being “an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body” (para 3). This twoness and the separation if it, keeps blacks from feeling at home, to instead feel like “an outcast and

What can we do better for our country instead of making a mockery towards the blacks who are poorly educated, and have severe economic issues by not providing equal opportunities and not providing schools for them? And could these actions really lead blacks to crime, violence, and laziness? W.E.B Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folks provides his readers a second – hand experience of what racism and segregation was like during the late eighteen hundred. In addition, he presents major themes such as double – consciousness, the color – line, and most important “the Veil”. The importance of “The Veil” describes the real-life experience of what life is like for an African American living in a nation that is divided up into two race groups and receiving terrible treatments. In Du Bois’ “introduction” he states that the greatest problem that blacks face during the twentieth Century was the color – line. The main reason that the color – line is such a problem during the twentieth Century is because it’s tough for the blacks to achieve

The 1800s was a time of barbarity and cruelty in the United States. The novel The Souls of Black Folk, published in 1903, is a two hundred and forty-two paged composition of various essays written by W. E. B. Du Bois. The author guides his audience alongside himself during the historic events occurring in the South, and how both Black and White people handled this difficult time. The novel is written of the life of a Black man, Du Bois, during the time of slavery and inequality in America. He discusses slavery and inferiority effect on the African race and the process of the elimination of slavery and unjust laws. He utilizes the cruel language in which the White race slander the Africans with. Du Bois also describes the United States as being partitioned into two unlike universes. One world being of the White race, with the grant of unlimited rights and dominance. While the other is filled with tons of people who struggle to acquire a higher education, civil rights, and the right to vote.

The timeline of Black history in the United States is one of continuous exploitation, oppression, and subordination. Systems of oppression are integrated seamlessly throughout American education, law enforcement, and the government. These structural components of racism continue to impede the ability of many Black people to rise out of a cycle of poverty and gain respect socially and politically in American society. It has been the opinion of many leading Black scholars that Black Americans must take a personal responsibility to uplift one’s own race. WEB DuBois, for instance, believed that the ‘Talented Tenth’ of the Black intellectual elite are obligated to inspire and cultivate Black excellence and success in society through their

W.E.B Du Bois wrote Black Reconstruction in America during a time in which people viewed the Reconstruction as a complete failure. Du Bois decided to write an entire book discussing the racial aspect of the Reconstruction and argue against its failure. To start the book, he went over three groups of people; the Black worker, the White worker and the planter. These three groups are central to Black Reconstruction because it begins with the Black worker, then proceeds to address the White worker and how their movements affected each other. It concludes by recognizing the planter and how they viewed their Black slaves. Black slaves were the most exploited group during Black Reconstruction; however, despite being the most exploited group of

Few men have influenced the lives of African-Americans as much as William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois is considered more of a history-maker than a historian(Aptheker, "The Historian"). Dr. Du Bois conducted the initial research on the black experience in the United States. Civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. have referred to Du Bois as a father of the Civil Rights Movement. Du Bois conducted the initial research on the black experience in the United States, and paved the way for the Pan-African and Black Power movements. This paper will describe his life, work, influence in the black community, and much publicized civil dispute with another black leader, Booker T. Washington.

“The Souls of Black Folk” was written in 1903 by William E. B. Dubois (4). Dubois was an activist for civil rights and an author of many pieces regarding the lifestyle, struggle and historic patterns of African Americans (4). Though Dubois was born after the abolition of slavery, he knew the prospects of the African American struggle were most likely formed due to the conditions of black lives during slavery. Dubois was also an educator and advocate for educational opportunities in black communities (4). Not only writing, reading and math but critical thinking, health and survival and extra sources that could uplift and broaden the mind to do what it has the potential to do. The first chapter of “The Souls of Black Folk” gave a depiction of two prominent intervals that are cultivated in black culture, the veil and double-consciousness. Dubois wanted to bring attention to them for the productivity of social equality. His audience was not the black community, but white Americans who judged, misunderstood and moreover controlled it. He aimed to clear the narrative of the African Americans being inadequate and bring forth the truth of black culture’s compromise.

In The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois, DuBois argues his point-of-view on racial tensions in the south during and after Reconstruction. DuBois was a key figure African-American historian and civil rights activist in his time leading and defending his fellows African-Americans. One of DuBois’s themes ranges on race relations developed after Reconstruction in the south. DuBois elaborates on the overwhelming divide between the white population and the black population in his chapter about race relations. DuBois lists how blacks have been crippled economically, socially, and politically by disfranchisement and the Jim Crow laws after reconstruction.

African Americans during the 1900s lived lives full of uncertainty. They were no longer slaves, but still looked upon by many as inferior to the white race. However in this period of tension, there were men who sought to bring their race to new heights. One of these men was W.E.B Du Bois. Few have influenced the lives of African Americans in such a way as W.E.B Du Bois. The vision he had for African Americans was one that many found great hope in. He sought for the day that his race for finally have civil equality in every aspect of life.

Historiography has changed immensely since the beginning of the historian profession. Times of conflict can result in the approaches of historiography changing in a short period. By the end of the nineteenth century, he writing of American history had changed from consensus to progressivism. This opened up a new form of writing and opportunities to include different approaches or fields, such as science, economics, political science, and sociology, to help the understanding of the topic. In 1903, William Du Bois, influenced by Pragmatism, wrote about the Civil War and how it was a result of economic and social factors of African Americans in his book The Soul of the Black Folk. Then, Charles and Mary Beard wrote “The Rise of American Civilization” in 1927, reconsidering and adding economic factors and the inclusion of women’s roles into the history of the American Revolution. Then, after the Second World War, the critical approach was seen as insulting, and historians started to take a consensus approach again. One of the most influential consensus historians of this time was Daniel Boorstin, who wrote “The Genius of American Politics”. This book helped explain the American Revolution as a means of theory failure by showing how “liberal” also known as progressive historians exaggerate on certain events or people that impacted the American Revolution, such as the Declaration of Independence and Thomas Jefferson. He sees the American Revolution results were a positive advance