The Souls of Black Folk

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.

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.

The Souls of Black Folk, written by W.E.B DuBois is a collection of autobiographical and historical essays containing many themes. DuBois introduced the notion of "twoness", a divided awareness of one's identity. "One ever feels his two-ness – an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled stirrings: two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keep it from being torn asunder" (215). There are many underlying themes in this collection of essays. One of the themes that DuBois speaks on extensively is education.

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

Throughout his entire book, Du Bois displays how individualism and freedom can be achieved in a multicultural society through the ability to generate media as he said, “ I know that these songs are the articulate message of the slave to the world. They tell us in these eager days that life was joyous to the black salve, careless and happy….They are the music of an unhappy people, of the children of disappointment; they tell of death and suffering and unvoiced longing toward a truer world, of misty wanderings and hidden ways” (Du Bois 1994:157). Therefore, Du Bois contends that if individuals recognize oppression and the oppressed are able to use their new platforms to express themselves, then freedom and individualism are actualized in society. In the modern context, Omi and Winant write that, “ The necessity to define characters in the briefest and most condensed manner has led to the perpetuation of racial caricatures, as racial stereotypes serve as shorthand for scriptwriters, directors and actors, in commercials, etc… Races do not emerge full-blown. They are the results of diverse historical practices and are continually subject to challenge over their

In The Propaganda of History, W.E.B. Du Bois approaches race by telling ways that current text books describe blacks (1935). He was a historian and a Civil Rights Activist. Richard Wright, whom wrote The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch, approached the subject of race by telling stories that actually happened to him. These stories were first hand experiences

The Souls of Black Folk, written by W.E.B DuBois is a collection of autobiographical and historical essays containing many themes. DuBois introduced the notion of “twoness”, a divided awareness of one’s identity. “One ever feels his two-ness – an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled stirrings: two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keep it from being torn asunder” (215). There are many underlying themes in this collection of essays. One of the themes that DuBois speaks on extensively is education.

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.

In chapter 1 of The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, Du Bois helps the reader get a better understanding of the struggle of black folk. Du Bois spent his childhood away up in the hills of New England. He would exchange visiting cards with the children in his schoolhouse, until one girl refused his card. It dawned on him that with certain suddenness that he was different from the others, he felt shut out from their world. Early in the chapter, Du Bois asks the question, “How does it feel to be a problem?” This is another way of asking, “How does it feel to be a Black person?” He talks about how being a problem is a strange peculiar experience for him for he has never been anything else. Double consciousness comes from African Americans

The Songs sited in each chapter of this book was put together to deliberately guide the reader’s cerebration process in scrutinizing the context to identify with DuBois of how these events described effected Black people during this era in our history. Each example was directly associated with the subsequent chapter and solidified the arguments from DuBois’ perspective. It was translucently clear that the deliberate specimens of the song segments and the essays themselves; that from DuBois’ perspective, the Black population in the South had not been given the appropriate opportunities, adequate education and resources to be prosperous, but rather given a liberation that was inferior to their slavery.

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

Du Bois uses this chapter to explain his journey into self-realization. He committed himself to provide an education for people within a southern town (Fisk university). Du Bois explains his heartache and issues with finding a school location. He is confronted with the “veil” many times and faces prejudice that would take a lifetime to overcome. . In the essay entitled “Of the Training of Black Men,” Du Bois continues to develop the theme of education with the introduction of the he “Talented Tenth” .

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,

    William Edward Burghardt "W. E. B." Du Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, author, writer and editor. He is an important figure in both African American history and in American Literature, who is widely recognized for his pursuit of social justice and literary imagination. He was influenced to write The Souls of Black Folk, a non-fiction seminal work in the history of sociology, in 1903 in order to explain the problem of the Twentieth Century, the color-line. This is the backbone of the book, the core of it’s charm, and what makes it an important American Literature book under the realist paradigm.