Premium Essay

W.E.B. Du Bois and His Image of Race

In:

Submitted By lrei
Words 4445
Pages 18
W.E.B. Du Bois’ “Double Consciousness”
How Race, Stereotypes and Prejudices influence the life of a Negro

Wordcount: 3791

Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 2 2. Contributing areas that lead to W.E.B. Du Bois´s “Double Consciousness”.................... 4 2.1 Race, Stereotypes and Prejudices ................................................................................ 4 2.2 Double Consciousness, the Veil and the Color-Line ................................................... 7 2.3 Du Bois´s change in use of “Double Consciousness” ................................................. 9 3. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 10

1. Introduction

W.E.B. Du Bois divides the world´s population into three groups; he distinguishes the white race, the black race and the yellow race as the bigger “families of human beings” 1 . According to Du Bois, these races cannot be solely distinguished by their scientifically proven deviances, as those incongruences do not influence the inner cohesion and the lasting duration of each racial group. Furthermore, he appoints every race a unique role which contributes to the welfare of the world. Therefore, he urges the ‘Negros’ to cut the bonds of suppression from the whites and deliver their message rightfully. 2 He argues in congruence with the majority of scientists and anthropologists, who support the argument that the various settlements all over the world have shaped the inhabiting people according to the conditions of their environment. This common history particularly creates races and is generally supported through common religion, a united practice of spiritual rites, use of a common language, and

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Harlem Renaissance

...talking about are W.E.B Du Bois, and Claude McKay, and how they contributed to the Harlem Renaissance era. In the social roots of the Harlem Renaissance can be tracked back to the Great Migration during the First World War, the philosophical roots reach back to the turn of the century and the work of black historian and sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963), whose The Philadelphia Negro (1899) was the first sociological text on a black community published in the United States. In 1903, in his book The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois had proposed that the identity of African Americans was fraught with ambiguity. (Sayre, 2012, pg. 1174) When in 1909 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded to advance the rights of black, Du Bois became editor of its magazine, The Crisis. Du Bois sense of the double-consciousness informing African American experience (a double-consciousness that informs the very term “African American”) was often expressed in the magazine’s pages. In this role he wielded an unequaled influence among middle-class black and progressive whites as the propagandist for the black protest from 1910 until 1934. (Rudwick, 2013) He resigned from the editorship of The Crisis and the NAACP in 1934, yielding his influence as a race leader and charging that the organizations was dedicated to the interests of the black bourgeoisie and ignored the problem of the masses. Du Bois’s interest in cooperatives was a part of his nationalism that...

Words: 1232 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

The Ballot Or The Bullet Rhetorical Analysis

...their endeavor to gain equal rights, people like W.E.B. Du Bois, Malcolm X, and Mary Church Teller. These powerful speeches and articles brought about great hope and zeal for the fight for African American independence. W.E.B. Dubois would eventually emerge as a founder of the NAACP, a leading human rights activists and the most important African American intellectual of the 20th Century. However...

Words: 1421 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Harlem Renaissance Poets

...He died of pancreatic cancer on April 16, 1994 in New York City. (Ralph Ellison, 2015) Richard Wright was born on September 4, 1908, in Roxie, Mississippi. Richard died from experiencing a heart attack on November 28, 1960, in Paris, France. (Richard Wright, 2015) Both of the authors made a major impact on society during their lifespan. According to Biography.com, Ralph Ellison was a 20th Century African American writer and scholar best known for his renowned, award winning novel “Invisible Man”. Ellison’s role in the Harlem Renaissance is his reputation as a deeply ingrained writer and a philanthropist that exceeded even the most esteemed circles of the American History. In addition, according to Biography.com, pioneering African American writer Richard Wright is best known for the 1940 Bestseller “Native Sea” and his 1945 biography “Black Boy”. Wright’s role in the Harlem Renaissance was as an inspirer. He is respected and known to many writers as an inspiration. His life-like fiction no longer has the standing it once enjoyed, but his life and word remain admirable. From the year of 1903 to present day, double...

Words: 1567 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

History

...civil rights leaders supported World War I and some 400,000 African Americans Discrimination was common. Where they saw combat, African American soldiers served with distinction. Many returning black soldiers questioned why the liberties and freedoms they had fought to preserve in Europe were denied them in their own country. Civil rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois expressedresentment. American economy slows as war-time production ends. Returning troops face difficult adjustment to civilian society. Many women and minority workers faced with loss of jobs as men returned to the workforce. Despite contribution to war effort, returning African American I troops continue to face discrimination and segregation. Death and destruction of war leads to feelings of gloom among many Americans. Migration to the North World War I accelerated the migration of African Americans to northern cities. This immigration began after the Civil War. Between 1910 and 1940s, almost 2 million African Americans left the South. Although they were usually able to improve their economic situation, they still faced discrimination, segregation, and sometimes even race riots. After World War I, disillusioned Americans wanted to return to the traditional foreign policy of isolationism. The 1920 landslide election of Republican President...

Words: 2496 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

History 300

...HIS 300---African American History FINAL EXAMINATION ❖ Utilizing your notes, returned quizzes, doc sharing, webliography and textbook, respond to the following in SHORT ANSWER (few sentences to one paragraph, depending on nature of question). ❖ Answer ONLY ONE QUESTION FROM EACH CHAPTER. ❖ The TOTAL NUMBER OF QUESTIONS ANSWERED IS 13 (THIRTEEN). ❖ Maximum points granted to those responses that provide “specific references” and cite respective sources. ❖ 15 (Fifteen Points a Piece) + 5 (Five) free = 200 points. Chapter 10: • How and why did southern and northern white people differ over slavery? On what did white people of both regions agree and disagree about race and slavery? • Why did seven southern states secede from the Union within three months after Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860? • If you were either a slave or free, would you have welcomed the secession of the southern states? How might secession affect the future of your people? Chapter 11: • What did black men and women contribute to the Union war effort? Was it in their interests to participate in the Civil War? Why or why not? • What was the purpose of the Emancipation Proclamation? Why was it issued? Exactly what did it accomplish? • Why did at least some blacks support the southern states and the Confederacy during the Civil War? Chapter 12: • What did the former slaves and the former slaveholders want after emancipation...

Words: 897 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Langston Hughes Evolution

...great example of a writer who not only overcame his fears, but also learned how to express them through poetry. People who want to study the underlining meaning in Hughes work should first analyze what caused him to write his poems, by researching...

Words: 2110 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Usso Harlem Renaissance Final Paper

...(literature, drama, music, art, dance) and also in social thought (sociology, philosophy), artists and intellectuals found new ways to explore the historical experiences of black America and the contemporary experiences of black life in the urban North. Challenging white superiority and racism, African-American artists and intellectuals rejected merely imitating the styles of Europeans and white Americans and instead celebrated black dignity and creativity. Asserting their freedom to express themselves on their own terms as artists, they explored their identities as black Americans, celebrating the black culture that had emerged out of slavery and their cultural ties to Africa. According to Marshall Bialosk, Although both Alain Locke and W.E.B Dubois wrote about African American music, the common wisdom about Harlem Renaissance is that it was primarily a literary movement whose purpose was to secure economic, social and cultural...

Words: 1744 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Ethnic Studies 001 Notes

...-All others must either assimilate or be relegated to a permanently inferior status. *Eugenics want to keep white/Anglo-Saxon -Product of scientific racism - Applied to Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” theory to modern, industrial civilization (Social Darwinism) -1890s: popular with educated Americans concerned about an imminent “race suicide” due to low Anglo-Saxon birth rates -1903: American Breeders Association founded -1906: its Committee on Eugenics formed “to emphasize the value of superior blood and the menace to society of inferior blood.” -1908: first Eugenics Society (England) -1909: first professorial Chair in Eugenics established (University College, London) -By 1910: emergent international eugenics movement proclaimed itself “the science of human improvement through programs of controlled breeding.” -Eugenicists advocated selective eugenic mating, immigration restriction, and the segregation, institutionalization, and sterilization of those judged socially “unfit” -1909: American Academy of Political and Social Science published Race Improvement in the United States (addressed obstacles to race progress including immigration) -1920s: Prominent intellectuals from elite...

Words: 1801 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Privilege Is the Greatest Enemy of Equality

...education is not complete if it doesn’t challenge the root of structural racism and racial oppression: the matter of white privilege. It’s vital to understand white privilege and the role it plays in affecting society. In essence, white privilege is an unwilling and non-owned racism that has been ingrained into our mindset throughout history, and it affects how we interact with each other and how those who don’t share such advantages are affected. It’s a permeating factor responsible for many inequalities faced among races, widening the social gap between white and nonwhite Americans. Accessibility to education, jobs, and housing are all directly affected by societal inconsistencies of privilege and power. Ultimately, racism isn’t caused by white privilege; white privilege is caused by racism. Yet racism isn't a problem that resides in the minds of individuals; it lies rooted deep in our social institutions. It is necessary we reconstruct the societal ideologies of race and class to expel this self-perpetuating cycle. In this essay I will address these racial struggles for power and privilege, the role it plays in education, and my personal experience towards racism and how it has affected me as a person. Privilege, as defined by Websters Dictionary, is a ‘special right, advantage, or immunity available only to a particular person or group’. In that sense, privilege is in and of itself a direct opposition to equality. Alongside this privilege comes power-the ability to coerce another’s...

Words: 2132 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Fast and Free

...celebrate their heritage and to become “The New Negro,” a term coined in 1925 by sociologist and critic Alain LeRoy Locke. One of the factors contributing to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance was the great migration of African-Americans to northern cities (such as New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.) between 1919 and 1926. In his influential book The New Negro (1925), Locke described the northward migration of blacks as "something like a spiritual emancipation." One of the factors contributing to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance was the great migration of African-Americans to northern cities (such as New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.) between 1919 and 1926. In his influential book The New Negro (1925), Locke described the northward migration of blacks as "something like a spiritual emancipation." In the 1920's African-Americans seemed to have passed through some rite of passage. As if for the first time, we began, in significant numbers, to be self-assertive and racially conscious. A popular, at the time, term describing such people was "The New Negro" expressed movement from the world of Booker T. Washington to that of W.E.B. duBois and Marcus Garvey. More than anything else, the Harlem Renaissance was a marker of the shift of the Black...

Words: 2049 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Research Paper the Civil Rights Movement

...mid-1950s to late 1960s to achieve civil rights equal to those of whites, including equal opportunity in employment, housing, and education, as well as the right to vote, the right of equal access to public facilities, and the right to be free of racial discrimination (Law, 2005).  This movement sought to restore to African Americans the rights of citizenship guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The words civil rights often raise images of Martin Luther King Jr. delivering his soul-stirring “I Have a Dream” speech before the nation’s capital. "The practical cost of change for the nation up to this point has been cheap," Martin Luther King Jr. conceded “(LITWACK, 2009). Martin Luther King Jr., and other leaders of the movement anticipated, the movement provoked gains not only for African Americans but also for women, persons with disabilities, and many others. Organized efforts by an African American, W.E.B. Du Bois, who exhorted blacks to fight for the rights was one of the leading figures of this early movement for civil. Du Bois’s movement led, in part, to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a civil rights organization that brought together lawyers, educators, and activists as a group fight for black civil rights. In Sacramento, the NAACP led Black organizations in the struggle for group rights...

Words: 2894 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Ethics

...African American History April 13, 2013 Final Paper Laws of Jim Crow (Final) The Jim Crow laws were as discriminatory as it gets when it came to race, as it separated what it considered inferior races from the white race. George agrees with other historians that Jim Crow was not a real person but one of fiction (6). Jim Crow laws were created in the late 1800’s and lasted until the 1960’s. Louisiana did not pass the first Jim Crow law until 1890, even though racial segregation and discrimination had their start much earlier. Soon after, other southern states passed similar laws prohibiting blacks from being seated with whites on railway cars. After studying the history of Jim Crow, Kantrowitz believed that the Jim Crow system was based on the assertions that whites believed themselves to be superior to blacks intellectually and morally. Sexual relations between blacks and whites were also a big issue because many whites believed that the mixing of races would produce a mongrel race and would destroy the fabric of America (35-38). On the other hand, George conveys that the main idea behind the Jim Crow laws was two-fold because Jim Crow was established to keep blacks separate and to make them believe that they were an inferior race (9). Jim Crow had the law on its side because no matter what, the law made it clear that discrimination against the blacks in the Southern states was okay. Many whites did not have a personal problem associating with blacks, as long...

Words: 2965 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Test 5 Chapter Study Questions

...Chapter Study Questions Exam Five 2305 (Chapters 4, 5, and 9) The Enduring Democracy Third Edition, 2013-2014, Dautrich and Yalof, Cengage Publishing. Be sure to skip a line between the question and the answer and skip another line before the next question. Chapter Four: Civil Liberties 1. What are civil liberties and when did individual rights recognized by government first appear in a legal charter? What charter? 73 - Those specific individual rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution and cannot be denied to citizens by government. Most of these rights are in the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights. The original English legal charter, the Magna Carta of 1215. 2. How are civil liberties different from civil rights? 73 - Civil liberties may be distinguished from civil rights (sometimes called equal rights), which refer to rights that members of various groups (racial, ethnic, sexual, and so on) have to equal treatment by government under the law and equal access to society’s opportunities. 3. What were the Alien and Sedition Acts and were editors if newspapers actually jailed? 74 - Alien Act, which authorized the president to deport from the United States all aliens suspected of “treasonable or secret” inclinations; the Alien Enemies Act, which allowed the president during wartime to arrest aliens subject to an enemy power; and the Sedition Act, which criminalized the publication of materials that brought the U.S. government...

Words: 10537 - Pages: 43

Free Essay

Racial Oppression

...immediate and lasting effects of the compiled stresses that result from continually being made aware of one’s bodily existence as “other” in a predominantly and normatively white world. In addition, racially oppressed people also often lose a sense of themselves, become alienated from themselves, and come to understand themselves vis-à-vis the oppressor. Combining contextualized analyses of the psychological, existential, physiological, and embodied dimensions of oppression, I argue that existing as racially oppressed in a white supremacist society also changes the ontological structure of one’s being-in-the-world. Keywords: phenomenology; oppression; stereotype threat; Martin Heidegger “Only when we come to be very clear about how race is lived, in its multiple manifestations, only when we can come to appreciate its often hidden epistemic effects and its power over collective imaginations and public space, can we entertain even the remote possibility of its eventual transformation” (Alcoff, 2001: 267). This paper attempts to further understand the lived experiences of racial oppression by bringing together personal...

Words: 10178 - Pages: 41

Premium Essay

Instiutions

...Review of Review of Economics and Institutions ISSN 2038-1379 DOI10.5202/rei.v1i2.1 ECONOMICS and INSTITUTIONS Vol. 1 – No. 2, Fall 2010 – Article 1 www.rei.unipg.it The Role of Institutions in Growth and Development Massachusetts Institute of Technology Daron Acemoglu Harvard University and Weatherhead Center for International Affairs James Robinson Abstract: In this paper we argue that the main determinant of differences in prosperity across countries are differences in economic institutions. To solve the problem of development will entail reforming these institutions. Unfortunately, this is difficult because economic institutions are collective choices that are the outcome of a political process. The economic institutions of a society depend on the nature of political institutions and the distribution of political power in society. As yet, we only have a highly preliminary understanding of the factors that lead a society into a political equilibrium which supports good economic institutions. However, it is clear that it is the political nature of an institutional equilibrium that makes it very difficult to reform economic institutions. We illustrate this with a series of pitfalls of institutional reforms. Our analysis reveals challenges for those who would wish to solve the problem of development and poverty. That such challenges exist is hardly surprising and we believe that the main reason for such challenges is the forces we have outlined...

Words: 14840 - Pages: 60