W.E.B. Du Bois was an African-American civil rights activist who helped to found the NAACP and made a significant contribution to the fight for equal rights for African-Americans. Du Bois challenged the philosophy of accepting discrimination and argued there would be no fairness until the end of segregation and African-Americans gained equal recognition in law. Du Bois also supported the idea of pan-African identity and encouraged Black Americans to cherish their African heritage and also supported African nations independence from colonial powers. He wrote a pioneering book “The Souls of Black Folk” which made an effort to portray African-Americans as the social and cultural equal of white Americans.
“I believe in God who made of one blood all races that dwell on earth. I believe that all men, black and brown and white, are brothers, varying through Time and Opportunity, in form and gift and feature, but differing in no essential particular, and alike in soul and in the possibility of infinite development.” – W.E.B. Du Bois
Birth and early life
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born on 23 February 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. His family were relatively affluent, and he attended an integrated local public school. After high school, from 1885 to 1888, he attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. Living in Tennessee, he became aware of the harsh realities faced by African-Americans in the age of Jim Crow laws on segregation and the fear of lynchings and violence. (which was at a peak around that time) In 1888, he went to Harvard to gain a second degree in history. Du Bois became the first African-American to receive a PhD from Harvard. He also received a scholarship to study at the University of Berlin in Germany. In Germany he felt a new intellectual freedom, mingling with white people unencumbered with America’s legacy of a racial divide.
After graduation, Du Bois gained employment teaching at Wilberforce University and Atlanta University. In Philadelphia, he studied the black community using relatively new techniques of sociology which focused on empirical evidence and data. Through his use of empirical evidence, he sought to give a different perspective on poor black communities, making a case that the problems of crime and poverty were not caused by ‘lazy behaviour’ but influenced by the economic opportunities they were brought up in and the ongoing legacy of slavery. Du Bois popularised the term ‘The submerged tenth’ and ‘talented tenth’ as part of his studies showing the different opportunities faced by sections of society – from the poorest to the richest.
Pan-African Conference
In 1900, Du Bois attended the first Pan-African Conference which sought to unite people of African descent and provide mutual support in efforts to achieve freedom from African nations under colonial rule and greater rights for African-Americans. The conference also sought to encourage pride in African identity. This appealed to Du Bois’ thoughts. He increasingly felt the value of the African-American community taking pride in both being an American and also their distinctive African heritage. In this regard, he differed from Frederick Douglass, who focused more on encouraging integration and assimilation.
The conference was notable for publishing an “Address to the Nations of the World” which made a plea for protecting rights of African nations and those of African descent. It included Du Bois observation.
“The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the colour-line.”
Differences with Booker T. Washington
Energised by the Pan-African Conference, Du Bois wrote more speeches and talks which developed his ideas of lifting his people out of segregation and racism. Du Bois emerged as a leading figure and spokesperson for the more radical wing of African-American activists. At the turn of the century, Booker T. Washington was the de facto spokesperson of the African-American community, and his approach was to seek incremental improvements in access to education and legal representation. He brokered the unofficial Atlanta Compromise which involved accepting segregation in the south and electoral disenfranchisem*nt in return for better educational prospects. Booker felt given the existing power structure of the south, this was the best compromise. However, Du Bois represented a new group of activists who were unwilling to accept this second-class status. Du Bois argued African-Americans should demand full voting rights and an end to segregation.
“The work of stealing the black man’s ballot has progressed and the fifty and more representatives of stolen votes still sit in the nation’s capital. Discrimination in travel and public accommodation has so spread the some of our weaker brethren are actually afraid to thunder against color discrimination as such and are simply whispering for ordinary decencies.” – The Niagara Movement, Address to the Country.
In his own autobiography and a review of Washington’s writings, Du Bois was critical of Washington and the Atlanta compromise. Du Bois also leaned more towards education based on the arts rather than the more technical and mechanical skills advocated by Washington. Du Bois later expressed regret at his personal attacks on Washington and said they had more in common than was often portrayed in the media. However, it reflected a divergence in aspirations between a different generations of activists.
“The Negro cannot stand the present reactionary tendencies and unreasoning drawing of the color line indefinitely without discouragement and retrogression. And the condition of the Negro is ever the cause for further discrimination.” – The Souls of Black Folk, Ch. IX
Niagara Falls Convention
In 1903 Du Bois published a ground-breaking book “The Souls of Black Folk” It was a collection of 14 essays which sought to illustrate the intellectual and spiritual potential of African-Americans. He sought to argue that the twin aspect of African and American heritage could change from being a hindrance to offering a new opportunity.
“Henceforth, the destiny of the race could be conceived as leading neither to assimilation nor separatism but to proud, enduring hyphenation.”
In 1905, Booker attended a meeting of black civil rights activists at The Niagara Falls in Canada, which sought to clearly state their wish for full legal rights. To publish their revolutionary ideas, they started their own printing press to publish their new ideas.
Events in the 1900s gave impetus to Du Bois and the Niagara Movement. – The prevalence of lynchings – expertly documented by Ida Wells; the unfair sacking of 167 black soldiers by President Theodore Roosevelt and the Atlanta riots – where white beat up black people, killing 25. All these events illustrated to Du Bois that the Atlanta Compromise was worthless because the black population could not rely on protection under the law. Du Bois and an increasing number of others felt the only alternative was to gain full legal rights and end segregation as the only way to end the racism and violence. Du Bois was also instrumental in encouraging black Americans to lose their loyalty to the Republican Party, which had lasted since the days of Abraham Lincoln. Du Bois argued the Republicans were doing nothing to earn the vote of black people.
“Unfortunately there was one thing that the white South feared more than Negro dishonesty, ignorance, and incompetency, and that was Negro honesty, knowledge, and efficiency.” Ch. XI: The Negro in the United States
In 1909, the American Historical Association invited Du Bois to present a paper on the Reconstruction Era. Du Bois challenged the conventional historical view that the failure of Reconstruction was the failure of black people. He argued it achieved some initial successes but failed because the Federal Government failed to support land reform and effective southern efforts to suppress the black vote.
NAACP
In 1910, Du Bois was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Du Bois suggested the term colored to include all people of dark skin and not just ‘black.’ Du Bois edited the magazine of the NAACP entitled “The Crisis” It sold well and became influential in shaping the emerging civil rights movement. Du Bois wrote on lynching, black churches, segregation, racism in the media and the Afrocentric origin of European civilisation. Du Bois was disappointed with the Republican party and so endorsed Woodrow Wilson‘s presidential campaign in 1912 – in return for a promise to support more black opportunities. He was deeply disappointed when Wilson later reneged on his promises and actually it became more difficult for black people to gain federal employment.
The Silent Parade
In 1917, Du Bois led the Silent Parade – a march in New York protesting the killing of blacks in St Louis and recent lynchings in Waco and Memphis. It was only the second time black people had publically protested for civil rights. It was the first time in New York. Over 7,000 African-Americans marched down 5th Avenue. Its peaceful nature and solemnity helped raise public sympathy and the media coverage gained increased exposure for the NAACP. They hoped to appeal directly to Woodrow Wilson, though Wilson continued to ignore requests to meet in person.
He also continued to publish his own works including a history of black Africans ‘The Negro’ (1915) and continued to support efforts to improve the image of black Americans. Concerned that standard educational textbooks ignored African-American people, he published a monthly children’s magazine ‘The Brownies Book’ which was aimed at black children and offering positive role models. Du Bois also expressed support for African-Americans developing their artistic capacities. He supported the Harlem Renaissance which gave birth to a new generation of black artists.
In the 1920s, he clashed with Marcus Garvey a founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Garvey promoted racial separatism and encouraged blacks to return to Africa. Du Bois disagreed with his racial separatism, arguing that the best was to integrate on a level playing field.
Despite the pioneering efforts of Du Bois and the NAACP, the 1920s were a difficult time for civil rights. Segregation if anything increased and there were few effective challenges to racial discrimination. In the 1930s, he became disillusioned with progress and for a time gave up on integration, suggesting that separate but equal may be a necessary compromise because of this he left the NAACP.
However, in 1943, he rejoined the NAACP and served as a delegate to the 1945 Conference in San Francisco to set up the United Nations. Du Bois hoped a universal declaration of human rights would help push the US towards enforcing racial equality at home.
Socialism and Communism
In 1910, Du Bois joined the Socialist party, though he left in 1912 due to his endorsem*nt of Woodrow Wilson. Throughout his life, he became more sympathetic to socialist ideas as a way to achieve racial equality. Generally he opposed the American Communist Party, though he believed the Marxist analysis of inequality explained many of the problems African-Americans had. He also retained friendly relations with prominent American Communists. In the post-war McCarthyite era, Du Bois flirtation with Communism and the Soviet Union made him a liability for the NAACP who were struggling to deal with accusations of Communist sympathies. In 1948, he left the NAACP. Combined with his opposition to nuclear weapons and supporting the Peace Information Centre, Du Bois was targeted in the 1950s for potential ‘hidden’ Communist sympathies. In 1951, he was indicted by the US Justice Department. Before his case came to court, the judge dismissed the case because Albert Einstein agreed to serve as character witness for Du Bois. However his passport was confiscated in 1951.
In 1961, after receiving a second passport, he visited Ghana to work on an Encyclopaedia of Africans and show support for the newly liberated African nations. In 1961, he also joined the American Communist Party, though this was partly in disgust at the McCarthyite laws which required members of the Communist Party to register with the government. In 1963, the US refused to renew his passport, so he accepted Ghanian citizenship in protest. (He did not renounce American citizenship)
Death
He died on 27 August 1963 in the capital of Accra at the age of 95. He was given a state funeral and is buried in Accra. The day after his death 28 August 1963, at the iconic March on Washingon – Roy Wilkins asked the marches marchers to honor Du Bois with a moment of silence. It was the day of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech”
He married Nina Gomer in 1896; they had two children. After his first wife died in 1950, he remarried Shirley Graham. He became close to her son David.
Religion
Du Bois was brought up in the Protestant Reformed Congregational church. But, at university, he longer followed any organised religion. He was often critical of formal religion; amongst other critiques he argued the church entrenched racial inequality. He felt religion could offer spiritual sustenance to followers, but he embraced a more individualist spirituality.
Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. “W.E.B. Du Bois Biography”, Oxford, UK. www.biographyonline.net. Published 18 July 2019.
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois at Amazon
Quotes
“I sit with Shakespeare and he winces not. Across the color-line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out the caves of the evening that swing between the strong-limbed earth and the tracery of the stars, I summon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will, and they come all graciously with no scorn nor condescension. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the Veil. Is this the life you grudge us, O knightly America? Is this the life you long to change into the dull red hideousness of Georgia? Are you so afraid lest peering from this high Pisgah, between Philistine and Amalekite, we sight the Promised Land?”
The Souls of Black Folk Ch. VI: Of the Training of Black Men
“The theory of democratic government is not that the will of the people is always right, but rather that normal human beings of average intelligence will, if given a chance, learn the right and best course by bitter experience.”
“Daily the Negro is coming more and more to look upon law and justice, not as protecting safeguards, but as sources of humiliation and oppression. The laws are made by men who have little interest in him; they are executed by men who have absolutely no motive for treating the black people with courtesy and consideration; and, finally, the accused law-breaker is tried, not by his peers, but too often by men who would rather punish ten innocent Negroes than let one guilty one escape.” Ch. IX: Of the Sons of Master and Man
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