Basic Information
William Edward Burghardt DuBois was born on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He is known as an American sociologist, a historian, author, editor, and an activist who was well renowned for his contributions as a Black intellectual leader throughout the beginning of the 20th century. He is also a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) (W.E.B. DuBois, n.d.).
Background Information
W.E.B. DuBois was born three years after the Civil War during the Reconstruction era to his mother was Mary Silvina Burghardt who was a domestic worker, and his father Alfred DuBois who was a barber and an itinerant labor. In 1884, DuBois graduated valedictorian from high school then he moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he received his bachelor’s degree from Fisk University in 1888. When DuBois moved to Nashville this is where he first encountered Jim Crow laws, and this is where he began to investigate the troubles of American Racism (A&E Networks Television, 2021). After receiving his bachelor’s degree DuBois attended Harvard University where he received yet another bachelor’s degree in 1890 and his masters in 1891 and between 1892-1894 DuBois studied abroad at Friedrich-Wilhelm III University (Holt, 2008). During this study abroad DuBois began to see how different areas of the world treated him differently based on the color of his skin which led to his understanding of double-consciousness (Pittman, 2016). In 1895, he became the first African American to obtain a Ph D. at Harvard University (W.E.B. DuBois, n.d.). In 1896 Dubois doctoral dissertation, The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America, 1638-1970, was published (Rudwick, 2021). By the time he died in 1963 he wrote 17 books, edited 4 journals and was a key influencer in reimaging black-white relations.
Contributions to the First Wave
Most of Dubois work was to fight against discrimination and racism where he made significant contributions throughout the beginning of the 20th century. He believed the sociological study would be the knowledge that is needed to solve the race problem in the United States, this all changed when he was faced with segregation and lynching’s (Rudwick, 2021). This led him to believe the only solution was through active protests. In 1903, Dubois published The Souls of Black Folk, where the term “double-consciousness” challenged the single life experiences in the United States. DuBois defined double-consciousness as having a “two-ness” which pertained to people of color and meant because they lived and operated in two Americas, one white and one black (Pittman, 2016). This was said to imply two ideas; one being you are uniquely you however, others may see you and judge you according to your race.
The publication of The Souls of Black Folk, led to the rise of black activists to fight against racial oppression and in 1905 the Niagara movement was born by DuBois and other black leaders. In this article he also began to challenge the strategies of African American leaders like Booker T. Washington when it came to Civil Rights movement because they believed blacks should briefly accept segregation (Mack, 2007). This movement challenged segregation and discrimination, but as it declined, he became the co- founder of the NAACP in 1909 (Mack, 2007). In 1915, W. E. B. DuBois staged The Star of Ethiopia, when Carrie Williams Clifford was one of three women on the committee. With DuBois inspiration Carrie Williams Clifford began writing drama pieces (Cahill, 2021, p.127), who was famously known for writing Race Rhymes and The Widening Light along with her involvement with the founding of the Ohio Federation of Colored Women’s Club in 1901 (Cahill, 2021, p. 127-129).
In the early 1900s, W. E. B. DuBois became the director of research and editor of its journal, The Crisis, until he was fired in 1934 (W.E.B. DuBois, n.d.). During his time there he used this paper to attack President Woodrow Wilson, due to the federal government becoming segregated. In 1915, The Crisis began to appear in mailboxes featuring an image of Sojourner Truth with Abraham Lincoln on the cover declaring the “Votes for Women.” This was the second time in five years that The Crisis published an article on women’s suffrage. There was also an article that posted the amount of lynching’s over the last three decades broken down year by year (Cahill, 2021, p.147-148). DuBois also published many of his essays that where in support of the Women’s Suffrage Movement, he even published an essay against it to show his audience both sides of the same coin before they decided to vote for or against the movement (W.E.B. DuBois, n.d.). DuBois also published articles on unionized labor regardless of his attack on union leaders barring black workers for joining. He would also feature and celebrate women in his “Men of the Month” column and in support of his pro-feminist activism he wrote “The Damnation of Women,” where he connects the inequities for racial, justice, peace, and women’s equality (James, 2014, p.143). Under his reign the paper reached far and wide across the nation gaining 100,000 readers in 1920, which meant more supporters for the NAACP. This led the NAACP to become the leading protest organization for Black Americans (W.E.B. DuBois, 2021). His advocacy for women rights gained him an invitation to speak at the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) (James, 2014, p.143).
The uplift of women is, next to the problem of the color line and the peace movement, our greatest modern cause. When, now, two of these movements–women and color—combine in one, the combination has deep meaning.
~ W. E. B. DuBois (James, 2014, p.141)
Analysis and Conclusion
William Edward Burghardt Dubois helped rally the troops during the first wave of women suffrage movement. He did so by challenging and devoting himself to social sciences by conducting empirical studies to the conditions of Blacks in America, when other sociologists where theorizing about race relations (Rudwick, 2021). During this era there is not a single suffrage, racial, or discrimination movement that did not include DuBois. He dedicated his life to what he believed in, even though it led him to be tried by the United States Federal Government for allegedly being involved with a communist group. When charges were dropped in 1961, this led to him deciding to leave the U.S. because he was discouraged by the government. He decided to live in Ghana where the Ghanaian President supported the move and DuBois was made the editor of the Africana Encyclopedia (Mack, 2007). Ironically, he died August 27, 1963, which happened to be the day before the famous March on Washington which was the largest civil rights demonstration until that date in the U.S. (Mack, 2007).
W.E.B. DuBois contributed greatly towards the racial justice in the United States along with the women’s suffrage movement. He continuously used his platforms to spread knowledge and bring light to the injustices of African Americans and women across the nation. Throughout his career he worked with many activists who continued the fight after his passing. The Crisis magazine is currently the oldest black orientated magazine, that continues to question the racial advancement in the United States. Along with that, his ideology of “double-consciousness” has evolved into today’s society that acknowledges the multiple platforms of oppression.
References
A&E Networks Television. (2021, January 7). W.E.B. Du Bois. Biography.com. Retrieved February 3, 2022, from https://www.biography.com/activist/web-du-bois
Cahill, C. D. (2021). Recasting the vote: How women of color transformed the suffrage movement. University of North Carolina press.
Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963. The Damnation of Women, ca. 1920. W. E. B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Retrieved February 4th, 2022, from Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries
Holt, Thomas C. “Du Bois, W. E. B.” African American National Biography. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. Retrieved February 4, 2022, from Oxford African American Studies Center.
James, J. (2014). The profeminist politics of W. E. B. Du Bois with respects to Anna Julia Cooper and Ida B. Wells Barnett. W.E.B. Du Bois on Race and Culture, 141–160. Retrieved February 3, 2022, from https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203379509-14
Mack, D. (2007, March 19). William Edward Burghardt Dubois (1868-1963) •. William Edward Burghardt DuBois. Retrieved February 4, 2022, from https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/dubois-william-edward-burghardt-1868-1963/
Pittman, John P., “Double Consciousness“, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), Retrived February 18, 2022, from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2016/entries/double-consciousness/
Rudwick, E. (2021, August 23). W.E.B. Du Bois. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/W-E-B-Du-Bois
(For image) Battey, C. M., photographer. (ca. 1919) W.E.B. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, -1963. , ca. 1919. May 31. [Photograph] Retrieved February 17, 2022 from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2003681451/
W.E.B. DuBois. History of U.S. Woman’s Suffrage. (n.d.). Retrieved February 3, 2022, from http://www.crusadeforthevote.org/du-bois
W.E.B. DuBois. NAACP. (2021, May 11). Retrieved February 4, 2022, from https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/civil-rights-leaders/web-du-bois