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A Critical Analysis of The Souls of Black Folk: Divergent Perspectives on Black Leadership
“How does it feel to be a problem in America (Du Bois 1)?” “What is the purpose of Reconstruction for the Negro race?” “How can African-Americans confront the problem of the color-line in 1904 (Du Bois 9)?” In The Souls of Black Folk (1904), W.E.B. Du Bois, a renowned sociologist, recounts the struggles and dogged resiliency of four-million newly emancipated African-American slaves during the Reconstruction Era. Throughout his seminal text, W.E.B. Du Bois advances an aspirational vision of self-determined political agency, economic organization, and full civil-equality for African-Americans. In contrast with Du Bois’ political perspective, Booker T. Washington articulates a vision of black leadership centered on African-Americans’ industrial education and economic advancement in the labor force. Nevertheless, historians must situate both contentious perspectives within the broader socio-political context of the early 20th
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Washington asked that African-Americans give up their “political power, insistence on civil rights, and higher education of Negro youth” (Du Bois 31). In the Atlanta Exposition speech, Washington implicitly references to a defined social and racial hierarchy in the South. “It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities” (Washington 206). In order for the Negro race to advance, African-Americans must limit their political demands; instead, they ought to strive for progress in the industrial sphere. Ratified 1868, the 14th Amendment granted African-Americans the full privileges of citizenship in the United States. Meanwhile, the 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, granted African-American men the right to vote. As a result, Booker T. Washington believe that the politics of gradualism in the legislative arena made sufficient gains for African-American civil
As an unabridged version of his other book, Eric Foner sets out to accomplish four main goals in A Short History of Reconstruction. These points enable the author to provide a smaller, but not neglectful, account of the United States during Reconstruction. By exploring the essence of the black experience, examining the ways in which Southern society evolved, the development of racial attitudes and race relations, and the complexities of race and class in the postwar South, as well as the emergence during the Civil War and Reconstruction of a national state possessing vastly expanded authority and a new set of purposes, Foner creates a narrative that encompasses some of the major issues during Reconstruction. Additionally, the author provides
While growing up in the midst of a restrictive world, education becomes the rubicon between a guileless soul and adulthood. In the excerpt from W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois provides a roadmap for African Americans to discover and understand themselves through the pursuit of knowledge, self-awareness, and authenticity. The excerpt is a significant part of the essay because it also speaks for the modern day pursuit of knowledge, self-awareness, and authenticity, an indispensable path into finding one’s self.
... same thing for blacks, first-class citizenship, but their methods for obtaining it differed. Because of the interest in immediate goals contained in Washington’s economic approach, whites did not realize that he anticipated the complete acceptance and integration of Negroes into American life. He believed blacks, starting with so little, would have to begin at the bottom and work up gradually to achieve positions of power and responsibility before they could demand equal citizenship—even if it meant temporarily assuming a position of inferiority. DuBois understood Washington’s program, but believed that it was not the solution to the “race problem.” Blacks should study the liberal arts, and have the same rights as white citizens. Blacks, DuBois believed, should not have to sacrifice their constitutional rights in order to achieve a status that was already guaranteed.
Marable, Manning. Race, Reform, and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction and Beyond in Black America, 1945-2006. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007.
Abstract from Essay The reader can contemplate the passage of Du Bois' essay to substitute the words "colored" and "Negro" with African-American, Nigger, illegal alien, Mexican, inner-city dwellers, and other meanings that articulate people that are not listed as a majority. Du Bois' essay is considered a classic because its words can easily reflect the modern day. -------------------------------------------- The Souls of Black Folk broadens the minds of the readers, and gives the reader a deeper understanding into the lives of people of African heritage.
The historiography of Reconstruction often failed to acknowledge contributions made by black leaders. During the latter part of the twentieth century historians began to re-evaluate Reconstruction in the southern states to include progress of African-Americans. In “Local Black Leaders during Reconstruction in Virginia,” Richard Lowe examines southern communities and black leaders after the Civil War. He concentrates the essay on re-examining historians’ negative impact of black reconstruction and argues black leaders faced a heavy burden to ensure political advancement in the aftermath of war. In comparison, Barry Crouch’s “Unmanacling” Texas Reconstruction; A Twenty Year Perspective,” also examines reconstruction historiography and support
From slavery being legal, to its abolishment and the Civil Rights Movement, to where we are now in today’s integrated society, it would seem only obvious that this country has made big steps in the adoption of African Americans into American society. However, writers W.E.B. Du Bois and James Baldwin who have lived and documented in between this timeline of events bringing different perspectives to the surface. Du Bois first introduced an idea that Baldwin would later expand, but both authors’ works provide insight to the underlying problem: even though the law has made African Americans equal, the people still have not.
Nabrit, James M. Jr. “The Relative Progress and the Negro in the United States: Critical Summary and Evaluation.” Journal of Negro History 32.4 (1963): 507-516. JSTOR. U of Illinois Lib., Urbana. 11 Apr. 2004
African Americans have a history of struggles because of racism and prejudices. Ever since the end of the Civil War, they struggled to benefit from their full rights that the Constitution promised. The fourteenth Amendment, which defined national citizenship, was passed in 1866. Even though African Americans were promised citizenship, they were still treated as if they were unequal. The South had an extremely difficult time accepting African Americans as equals, and did anything they could to prevent the desegregation of all races. During the Reconstruction Era, there were plans to end segregation; however, past prejudices and personal beliefs elongated the process.
During the end of the 19th Century, the condition of Black Americans was fatal and destructive during the fight for progression and equity. Although their physical chains were removed, Black Americans entered another form of racialized bondage that deteriorated their mental, physical, academic, social, political, and economic well-being. Despite living in constant torture, three prominent African-American leaders would take note of these issues and formulate tactics on what they believed would improve the black condition. In their acclaimed narratives, Ida B Wells, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. Dubois would propose three distinct diagnostic accounts of racial subordination during the late 19th century. For Dubois, his account of racial subordination
During the late 19th and early 20th century, racial injustice was very prominent and even wildly accepted in the South. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois were two of the most renowned “pioneers in the [search] for African-American equality in America” (Washington, DuBois, and the Black Future). Washington was “born a slave” who highly believed in the concept of “separate but equal,” meaning that “we can be as [distant] as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress” (Washington 1042). DuBois was a victim of many “racial problems before his years as a student” and disagreed with Washington’s point of view, which led
It is in a diverse environment that I find myself growing the most. Diverse meaning an abundance in the difference in things such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, physical abilities, religious beliefs, or political beliefs.
Throughout his essay, Du Bois challenged Booker T. Washington’s policy of racial accommodation and gradualism. In this article Du Bois discusses many issues he believes he sees
It wasn’t easy being an African American, back then they had to fight in order to achieve where they are today, from slavery and discrimination, there was a very slim chance of hope for freedom or even citizenship. This longing for hope began to shift around the 1950’s. During the Civil Rights Movement, where discrimination still took place, it was the time when African Americans started to defend their rights and honor to become freemen like every other citizen of the United States. African Americans were beginning to gain recognition after the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, which declared all people born natural in the United States and included the slaves that were previously declared free. However, this didn’t prevent the people from disputing against the constitutional law, especially the people in the South who continued to retaliate against African Americans and the idea of integration in white schools....
Booker T. Washington was a young black male born into the shackles of Southern slavery. With the Union victory in the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, Washington’s family and blacks in the United States found hope in a new opportunity, freedom. Washington saw this freedom as an opportunity to pursue a practical education. Through perseverance and good fortunes, Washington was able to attain that education at Hampton National Institute. At Hampton, his experiences and beliefs in industrial education contributed to his successful foundation at the Tuskegee Institute. The institute went on to become the beacon of light for African American education in the South. Booker T. Washington was an influential voice in the African American community following the Civil War. In his autobiography, Up from Slavery, Washington outlines his personal accounts of his life, achievements, and struggles. In the autobiography, Washington fails to address the struggle of blacks during Reconstruction to escape the southern stigma of African Americans only being useful for labor. However, Washington argues that blacks should attain an industrial education that enables them to find employment through meeting the economic needs of the South, obtaining moral character and intelligence, and embracing practical labor. His arguments are supported through his personal accounts as a student at Hampton Institute and as an administrator at the Tuskegee Institute. Washington’s autobiography is a great source of insight into the black education debate following Reconstruction.