W. E. B. Dubois Double Consciousness

W.E.B. Dubois The great African American intellectual W.E.B. Dubois was born in the post-Civil War era. Being born at this time encouraged him to fight for equal rights for blacks. At this time, blacks were still suppressed very greatly. Dubois, having had lived in an all black community, experienced racism first-hand in the North (Donalson, 558).

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.

The next aspect of double consciousness consists of the rejection of African Americans by white Americans and institutions. Blacks are forced to live in America, but at the same time, are not considered “true” Americans and are separated by the veil that DuBois talks about. DuBois first feels this rejection when a little girl at his school rejected his card for no reason other than his skin color. He asks, “Why did God make me an outcast and a stranger in mine own house?” (Dubois 896). He describes opportunities for blacks as “relentlessly narrow, tall, and unscalable to sons of night” (896) giving the impression that a

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.

DuBois’ double-consciousness is quite simply the twoness of American Negroes. It is this sense of “always looking at one’s self through the

Nella Larsen, a luminary of the Harlem Renaissance, explores the nature of racial identity and double-consciousness in her novella Passing. W.E.B Du Bois’s theory of double-consciousness is characterized in The Souls of Black Folk as a sense of “twoness,-- an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body” (Du Bois 2). Irene and Clare, Larsen’s novella’s primary characters, both lack a “dark body” which allows them to oscillate, by choice, between playing the part of the white “American” and the “Negro”. The appeal of racial passing lies in how it provides disenfranchised minorities access to otherwise unattainable

Dubois understood what it meant to be a black man having to identify with two mindsets. Yet, individuals would find it hard to walk a mile in those shoes. “The Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world, a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world” (Dubois 1). The discrimination between perception of the other and its relation to internal self can be viewed as DuBois 's veil concept or double-consciousness theory. “One ever feels his two-ness, an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder” (Dubois 1). Dubois stresses the difference between internal and external forces which contribute to certain perceptions. Double-consciousness can be a noticed but rarely analyzed subject among athletes of color.

“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.

The idea Double Consciousness has been the overarching struggle in many Afro-Hispanic and Latin X literature. Double Consciousness is a term coined by W. E. B. Du Bois to describe an individual whose identity is divided into several facets. Double Consciousness complicates the feeling of belonging because it makes it difficult for one to develop a sense of self. In the autobiography Down These Mean Streets, written by Peri Thomas, the reader gets to experience the authors struggles with Double Consciousness of being both Hispanic and Black. In a similar fashion, Langston Hughes’ autobiography, Big Sea, gives the reader understanding of the shortcoming of dealing with Double consciousness with class and economic status. In this essay, I will be exploring how movement and location has a strong impact on identity, while simultaneously highlighting the importance to the journey that help develops a sense of self.

Chapter Summaries Chapter 1. Of Our Spiritual Strivings In this book W.E.B Du Bois explains how he experience racial diversity at a very young age and he also spoke about two major ______ the “double consciousness” and “the veil”. “Double consciousness” is the belief that African-Americans in the United States live with two different identities. Du bois describes that one of the most important thing to the black experience is the black identity, the second thing was the American identity.

African Americans struggle with a multi-faceted conception of self, a double consciousness. They are always trying to reconcile the two cultures that compose their identity. The two-ness of being African and American leads to psycho-social tensions in which individuals are forced into identifying themselves into two social worlds refers to their split consciousness. Dubois saw double consciousness as a useful theoretical model for understanding the psycho-social divisions existing in the American society. He saw the prevalence of racism and figured out that sometimes peoples internalized their oppression. He called that having a double consciousness. The media promote images of African American’s as criminals, rappers, or professional athletes as a result other subcultures perceive African American’s in the limited capacity. Blacks suffer from a damaged self-image shaped by the perceptions and treatment of white people. Black life in general can easily become shaped by stereotypes perpetuated by mainstream

W.E.B. DuBois wrote The Souls of Black Folk. In this work DuBois talks about life behind the shadow of race. In The Souls of Black Folk, DuBois makes several points about how as African Americans race is always at the forefront of our minds. It plays a role in everything we do as well as sometimes what we are able to achieve. He talks about how Blacks struggle with “double consciousness” which he also refers to as “twoness”. DuBois defines double consciousness as the, “ …sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s

“How does it feel to be a problem,” (W.E.B Du Bois 3) asked W.E.B Du Bois. The activist was born during President Andrew Johnson’s term and eventually died during Lyndon B. Johnson’s term. Born and raised in Massachusetts, he graduated from a black liberal arts college in Nashville called Fisk University, and taught in a rural school during the summer. His experiences with the school were documented in his book, The Souls of Black Folk. Du Bois became the first black folk to receive a Ph.D in history from Harvard University. To earn his post-doctoral degree, he studied in Germany. However, he ran out of funds. With the Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study, Du Bois established himself as an impressive scholar of black life present in America, and the study was of the initial black communities in the United States. Between 1898 and 1910, he taught sociology at

DuBois’s narration style in the first chapter of Souls of the Black Folk is very familiar, natural, almost as if he is telling you the story himself. He begins the first chapter with the main problem of every black American: the problem of double consciousness, ability to understand two different points of view at the same time. Specifically, to understand what it means to be black and American at the same time. The quote that exemplifies this best reds, “One ever feels two-ness, -an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder (2). I think this idea of double consciousness will continue to be prevalent throughout the entire book. DuBois’s notion of double consciousness consists of being split between “two warring ideals” one “American”, another “Negro;” you must see yourself how a white American might perceive you, which at that time was negative. What also struck me as interesting was the fact that while telling his personal autobiography, DuBois shows how his community shaped him because he lives a life of two parts and it is the color line that divides his life.

It doesn’t take long to figure out that race and ethnicity issues continue to affect America - a quick glance at the news will show the latest riot, hate crime, or police brutality incident. This centuries old struggle has given rise to a number of literary works on the topic, many of which take a different approach to the issue. W.E.B. Du Bois, for instance, published the work The Souls of Black Folk in 1903, arguing for blacks’ right to equality in a horrifically segregated society. In these essays, Du Bois coined the term “double-consciousness,” wherein those with black skin must view the world both from their own perspective, and from the perspective of the predominately white society. The short story Recitatif by Toni Morrison explores this concept through the removal of the characters’ races, and the film Do the Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee, tells a story to demonstrate it. While the former shows double-consciousness through the usage of ambiguity, the latter almost directly references the concept. Taken together, these two sources argue a multi-faceted version double-consciousness, wherein society alienates the characters in ways that go beyond just the color of one’s skin.