Credo Racial Identity

W.E.B. Du Bois (1968-1963) was a huge contributor to sociology through the eyes and experience of an African-American scholar (Vissing, 2011). Du Bois was an author, activist and student of Black sociology. In his 1897 article, Strivings of the Negro People”, Du Bois introduced the term “double-consciousness”, a concept I believe to be just as relevant in today’s African-American communities. Double consciousness refers to what Du Bois considered an absence of “true self consciousness” (Du Bois, 1897) amongst Africans in America. In place of that absence, lies a dual awareness- awareness of one’s self combined with an awareness

W.E.B. Du Bois, a prominent African American scholar in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, wrote many significant essays that challenged the dangerous societal view that black Americans weren’t capable of progress. In one of those essays, Strivings of the Negro People, he develops new terminology to discuss the many forces that act upon black Americans in a white dominated society, the most important of which is double-consciousness. The phrase, “double-consciousness”, refers to the division of the African American self into conflicting two facets: one being the American and the other the Negro, ever being forced to look at themselves through the eyes of a racist society.

George Mead and W.E.B Du Bois were both prominent American sociologists of the 20th century. Mead is known as one of the founders of social psychology and symbolic interactionism. Du Bois was also a historian, civil rights activist, author, writer, and editor. Both of them became renowned pragmatists, after years of writing articles, reviews, essays and books on philosophical topics. One of Mead’s popular theories is his theory on the social construction of self. One of Du Bois’s popular theories’ is one about double consciousness. Although, racism was the main target of Du Bois's’ polemics, both of their ideas of “self” are roughly the same. Their ideas share a common ground.

In The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B DuBois pioneers two concepts that describe the Black experience in America— the notions of “the veil” and “double-consciousness.” The meaning and implication of these words not only describe the plight of being Black and American then, it also refers to what it means to still be Black and American today – the remnants of the past live on. DuBois explains the veil concept in reference to three things: the literal darker skin of Blacks, which is the physical demarcation of the difference from whiteness, white people’s lack of clarity in order to see Blacks as “true” Americans, and lastly Blacks’ lack of clarity to see themselves outside of what white America prescribes for them. The idea of double consciousness refers to the two-ness, caused by our nations flawed and polarized system, felt by many Blacks. I argue that although DuBois was the first to coin these two terms, it is clear through analyzing Uncle Tom’s Cabin and 12 Years a Slave that these two significant concepts gave a name to what African-Americans had been feeling for years but previously could not define.

For centuries, African Americans lived without any consideration in the American society. Under the white supremacy, black people had no right and were considered as an inferior race or second-class citizens. Despite the misery and the abuses, they suffered on some white hands, the black community dreamed with acquiring equality and stop being seen as people without the capacity of achieving great thinks. For this propose, some well-educated black people among which were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois, who had a profound influence on the African American Community addressed ways to end with class and racial inequality. However, Du Bois and Washington addressed the matter of class and racial injustice in a considerable opposite way. Encouraging blacks to take distinctives actions.

Rather than gifting African-Americans with the freedom they dreamt about and fought hard for, the Emancipation led to an achievement of an ambiguous status in society, which created a larger problem of race that W.E.B Du Bois discusses in The Souls of Black Folk. In order to introduce this problem, Du Bois employs the use of a metaphor that compares the post-war life of Blacks in America to being stuck within a Veil as most held distorted images of self and self-worth. His use of the Veil metaphor emphasizes the severity of the “Negro Problem” in an attempt to convince white Americans that, in order for real progress of American industry and culture to take place, the problem must be

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

The turn-of-the-century W.E.B Du Bois wrote his seminal text The Souls of Black Folk in response to what was then called the 'Negro Problem.' The 'Negro Problem' was the question of whether African-Americans should be treated as equal within the firmament of American society and whether integration or separate but equal were more viable doctrines. Du Bois wrote against such advocates of acceptance like Booker T. Washington, and instead demanded parity for his people in terms of opportunities. In the first essay of Du Bois' book entitled "Our Spiritual Strivings," Du Bois writes of his frustrations as a young, African-American child who was intelligent and thoughtful yet all too well aware of how his race would limit his ability to pursue his studies although he

And thus, it is concluded that the of Du Bois’ philosphy of double concioussness , directly embodies the two main streams of the African American experience , and was best represented in the 1950’s and 1960’s by Malcolm X and Dr.

African Americans around the world articulate their opinion on topics and issues that affect their community directly. A lot of advocates and activists have formed over the years in fight for the African American community. W.E.B. Du Bois is a perfect example of an activists for African Americans. Du Bois’ participation within the activism was mainly within the 20th century. In the late 1800’s W.E.B. Du Bois turn out to be the very first African American to earn a PH.D. from Harvard University. Many years later, he went on to be one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the year 1909 (Asante 2003). Before Du Bois helped create that association, he published a literary piece that placed recognition on the history of African Americans. The Souls of Black Folk is a piece of literature that helps describe the concept of race and racism in America in the twentieth century. The purpose of this paper is to analysis the literature, The Souls of Black Folk, and address the topics of the veil and the color line, as mentioned in the literary work.

The early 20th century African-American scholar W.E.B. Du Bois identified the 'double consciousness' of African-Americans as the demand that African-Americans must understand white culture as well as their own to survive in a hostile, white-dominated America. Unlike whites, who could choose to interact with blacks only when it suited their needs (whether this meant employing them as servants or going to jazz clubs), African-Americans had to be hyper-aware of the needs of whites, given white political and economic dominance.

W.E.B Du Bois was and continues to be an important figure in the discipline of sociology and the individual’s understanding of certain concepts, especially with regards to double consciousness and the individual in society.

W.E.B. Du Bois is considered one of the top five people of the twentieth century. He is an intellectual, who is admired by both his supporters and adversaries. Du Bois, in his essay, tells his audience that he is not only a genius among blacks, but he is also a revered scholar of humankind. He is well educated among prestigious universities such as Fisk, Harvard, and Heidelberg, and is the first African American to earn a Ph.D. degree from Harvard University. Mr. Du Bois is not a meager intellectual, whose intelligence is measured by the capacity of his knowledge, but he also uses his knowledge to fight for the equality of his people. Among the different identities of Du Bois, he is also the founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). As a reader, one interprets that Du Bois' essay is an authentic narration of the life of African Americans. Du Bois uses context from his point of view as a free man; therefore, his words are less biased than his counterparts. He allows the readers to freely establish their own perspective on the problem of the color people by giving them the chance to see the lives of African Americans before the Civil War through Reconstruction. Du Bois also uses historical references, case studies, and personal storytelling examples to define the problem of the people of African heritage in the United States. The first chapters of The Souls of Black Folk contain historically relevant material,

In the United States of America people of multi-racial foundations feel like they are compelled to pick a piece of the racial character to characterize themselves. Throughout the years, numerous imperative assumes that have existed in the United States have talked on this issue. A standout amongst the most applicable individuals, who have talked on this, is W.e.b. Du Bois. He created a hypothesis called 'Double Consciousness’. This hypothesis expresses that as an individual you have a double personality; one character that is American and the other personality that is dark. This hypothesis relates impeccably the subject of racial character in Barack Obama 's book, Dreams from my Father. In this book, Obama examines racial way of life as an issue to end up in the United States. He does this by permitting the peruser to complete his adventure life, and talking about the encounters that made him doubt his character in view of the numerous trials that occurred in his life.

Georg Simmel’s The Stranger refines the sociological use of the word “stranger” through his unique elaboration of its meaning and place in the world. Simmel employs the word “stranger” to label a group of people who have a certain amount of nearness and remoteness, are objective, and are socially and economically mobile within a society. In this essay I will focus on one particular aspect of the stranger; Simmel discusses the stranger’s relationship with society as: “despite being inorganically appended to it, the stranger is still an organic member of the group” (Simmel 149). From my interpretation, the term inorganic describes something diverse and distinct; Simmel’s stranger is inorganic in the sense that his position within society is affected