WEB Du Bois

WEB Du Bois Education

Du Bois was born in 1868 and was the first person in his extended family to attend high school. After school, he left the Northeast to study at the University of Tennessee, where he was shocked by the barbarism of southern racism.

In 1888 he went to Harvard and became the first African American to receive a PhD from Harvard. In 1892 he studied at the University of Berlin, where he first experienced life beyond the United States colour line.

Fig. 1 - Portrait of WEB Du Bois

6 Key Works of WEB Du Bois

Du Bois works were and remain to this day some of the most critical evaluations of race relations in America. Ever the academic, Du Bois used his work to understand the state of black life in America and what could be done to improve it. Here are 6 key WEB Du Bois Works.

WEB Du Bois - Booker T. Washington Debate

Booker T. Washington was regarded as the African American leader in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He was seen as black America's spokesman.

Du Bois rejected Washington's view that self-help would get African Americans out of racism and poverty. He argued that entrepreneurial values were helpless against racism from whites. Du Bois believed that Washington's views blamed African Americans for their own subjection.

The Social Theory of WEB Du Bois

Having gone to university himself, it is not surprising that Du Bois resisted an emphasis on trade education. Du Bois was proof that African Americans could and should take to higher education and liberal arts. In response to Washington's emphasis on industrial education, Du Bois came up with the social theory of the Talented Tenth:

As Du Bois wrote:

For Du Bois, the talented tenth was about leadership. He believed that good, educated leaders would pull the black community towards racial equality. It is important to note, however, that Du Bois' conception of leadership was male. Though Du Bois' intention was to counter the myth that black people should not gain a higher education, his prizing of the top 'tenth' of the community does carry elitist connotations.

WEB Du Bois, Civil Rights, and the NAACP

In contrast to Washington's passive acceptance of Jim Crow, Du Bois believed in active resistance. In line with this, Du Bois co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or the NAACP in 1909 - America's oldest and largest civil rights organisation.

In 1910, Du Bois became the founder and editor of the NAACP newspaper The Crisis. Du Bois' position reflected his emphasis on advancing racial rights through academic writing. In 1919 Du Bois would write and publish 'Returning Soldiers' in The Crisis, which criticised America for promoting democracy in Europe while failing to enforce it at home.

The Crisis was very popular and by 1920 around 100,000 copies circulated throughout America. The newspaper reflected on Du Bois' own evolving politics: it increasingly focused on labour unions and African American worker's rights, in line with Du Bois' growing Communist sympathies.

WEB Du Bois and the Influence of Communism

Du Bois became increasingly influenced by Communist, anti-colonialist, and militant ideas throughout the twentieth century. When the Russian Revolution erupted in 1917, Du Bois had initially been hesitant to support it. But in 1926 he had the chance to visit the Soviet Union himself.

WEB Du Bois' visit influenced him greatly. He saw little poverty and was stunned at the egalitarian attitude of the Russians. That Lenin was a committed anti-imperialist and opposed the colonisation of the Western powers appealed to Du Bois. As the professor in African American studies Monteiro said:

In the late 1940s the Cold War began and McCarthyism, the persecution of those suspected of Communist sympathies, raged throughout the country.

In 1951 Du Bois was arrested on suspicion of being an "agent of a foreign principal." Although he was acquitted of this charge, the US government refused to release his passport for 7 years. In 1961, aged 93, Du Bois joined the American Communist Party. That same year he accepted President Kwame Nkrumah's invitation to live in Ghana. Du Bois renounced his US citizenship shortly before his death in 1963.

Importance of WEB Du Bois

WEB Du Bois is one of the most influential black American intellectuals. His ideas on the 'colour line' and 'double consciousness' continue to resound in an America still divided by race. Du Bois advocated for good quality higher education for African Americans, at a time when their intellectual abilities were called into question. And his co-founding of the NAACP helped build the most important organisation for African American rights in the first half of the twentieth century.

Du Bois reclaimed Reconstruction and rejected the myth of black unreadiness in political and governmental life. Du Bois' sharp characterisations and understanding of America and its race relations make him an indisputable giant in American history.