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Charles Dubois Souls Of Black Folk Essay

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Patricia R Easley
Educational Anthropology
“The Cultural Practices of Female Students at Charles Houston Alternative Charter High School
Explained Through WEB DuBois’ Souls of Black Folk” The female population at Charles Houston Alternative High School in Chicago’s South
Shore neighborhood are extremely influenced by forces outside of their control. While the educational system of Chicago fails to meet many of their needs, the school system is not the root of their problems. As descendants of the Emancipated population in the US, many of the struggles they face are rooted in the historical treatment of African Americans in this country.
The familial structures, sexual habits, and participation in economic markets of these young women are …show more content…

Most of his group members were sharecroppers and were denied the privilege of economic prosperity due to unfair labor practices implemented by plantation owners. For this reason, “…due to the difficulty of earning sufficient to rear and support a family and it undoubtedly leads to sexual immorality” (98). He adds that this immorality is not illustrated through prostitution but rather illegitimacy of family. Dubois goes on to write that this causes the family to separate and desert it once it has been formed. This is the “heritage from slavery” (99). During slavery, men and women “took up” with each other rather than becoming married with the permission or instruction of the master. When the master decided that the man or woman needed to be sold or live with another mate, the home that the slave family built was broken (ibid). Thus, it was not uncommon for children to share the same mother but have multiple fathers within the same household. DuBois wrote fifty years after
Emancipation, African Americans still followed these slave-time norms. He wrote that many couple still “take up” with each other and live as man and wife although their union is not legally recognized. Men and women still leave the home and do not consider the effect it has on the family, following the mentality of the slave master (100).
Likewise, every student mother at Charles Houston is the mother of an illegitimate,

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