Black history month is still upon us. This is the second time that I had to post this blog. I don’t know why, but I had the blog posted and when I came back to check on it it had vanished. After a few profane thoughts and curses leapt to my mind I had no choice but to redo the blog. Mr. Bruns, I hope you can still get in a few point for this blog even though it is a bit late but not from my doing.
This blog is about William Edward Burghardt Dubois. Try saying that five times fast. It’s kind of tricky but I managed to say it. Because it takes about eight and a half years to speak his full name properly, everyone refers to him as W. E. B. Dubois. For this blog I will just stick to Dubois.
Dubois was born on February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington Massachusetts. Great Barrington was about the size of Harlan. There were few blacks in the city but racism was still prevalent. The attitude of the locals towards the blacks was not one of great hostility, but was still enough to make Dubois feel like an outcast. He became resentful towards others and wanted to better the lives of his kin.
Throughout high school, Dubois was an avid learner and was often found trying to further his education. He quickly surpassed the other students and was prided in passing the white kids in class. Dubois wanted to go to Harvard but was unable to due to a lack of money. His family and friends helped him raise enough money to go to Nashville Tennessee for college.
During his time in the South, Dubois found out how much his people were really suffering. He saw the poverty, the ignorance, the hardship. He also saw the potential in these people as well. Dubois graduated from Nashville and applied for Harvard where he was accepted without difficulty. He quickly went on to get his Master’s degree and then on to his Doctorate. He went to Germany to study at one of the greatest schools in the world for advanced education.
He went back to Harvard to complete his doctorate and presented his dissertation The Suppression of the African Slave Trade in America. This work is still accessable today and is one of Harvard’s most reverend works. Dubois had over 20 years of schooling under his belt. He was quickly recruited for teaching positions across the country.
He chose to join a fellowship study on the black population of Philadelphia. This was to be the first major study on the social activities and progression of a group in society. Because of this and of his extensive research and findings, Dubois is known as the “Father of Social Science”.
Dubois later met Booker T. Washington. For a time the two were friends. They went to Civil Rights rallies, marches, and public speakings where they made their voices heard for the African American community. The two became widely known throughout the country. After a time though, the two began to grow more and more distant from each other.
Both men had a different view on how the African American’s should be granted total indiscrimination. Washington was in favor of trying to get all African Americans to seek a higher education so that in time they would be able to aide the country and show society what they were really capable of. Washington was very reserved and was very much like Martin Luther King Jr. in that he sought out peaceful means of negotiation.
Dubois on the other hand was a bit more radical. Dubois wanted immediate freedom to the oppressed. He wanted his people to rise up and demand that they be seen in society as equal to the whites. He was much like that of Malcolm X who was MLK’s darker side. Dubois and Washington openly disagreed with each other and the rift was never able to be filled.
Dubois was most famous for his starting of the “Niagara Movement” which later led the NAACP or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. These group’s main goals were to further aide the lives of African Americans. They demanded that all blacks get a fair trial in court that is not full of an all white jury. They also asked that blacks should be given long term jobs and to be respected in the community.
The Niagara Movement was very poorly funded and did not last more than a few years. The NAACP however is still around today. They have helped blacks in the country tremendously with the policies listed above and many more.
Dubois died on August 27, 1963 in Ghana. He was 95 years-old. Dubois will always be remembered as a man who strove to elevate himself from the fog of simplicity. He worked hard to better the lives of his kin and believed in a higher standard for all. This guy was a learning son of a gun. He was pretty smart for getting all of the higher education done with while he was still pretty young so that the rest of his life could be spent in pursuit of the greater good.
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