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Karl Marx 's ' The Soul Of Black Folks '

Decent Essays

Karl Marx perceived structures of inequality encompasses under class differences. Marx thought of race and ethnicity as second place to the class struggle. His main focuses were capitalism, exploitation, and alienation. On the other hand, W.E. B. Du Bois did not stratify race, class and nation as a personal characteristic but as social hierarchies that formed Blacks access to position, poverty, and authority.
W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He was the first African American to earn a doctorate at Harvard University, and he focused on history, civil rights, and sociology. In 1909, Dubois was a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The Soul of Black Folks was one of Dubois’ great works in 1903. Furthermore, Du Bois disagreed with Booker T. Washington’ submission to the domination of the whites. In other words, Booker T. Washington accepted the fact that whites could control all African Americans and the economy as long as blacks could have jobs, and get a decent education. According to Leff (2000), the whites favored Booker T. Washington because he agreed to the denial of African American rights to have any power in the political institution. On the other hand, Dubois critiqued Booker T. Washington’s point of view, and he wanted to fix the problem by operating against Booker T. Washington’s beliefs. Dubois perceived race as a major problem in society, therefore, he would not adhere to

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