The importance on minority art is essential in allowing expression amongst artists who feel trapped or brought down by a society that condemns them due to their race. For Du Bois, there was a great importance in bringing to light the “color line” that separates African American and European American. Bu Bois had a bohemian mentality and truly believed that the world would one day be filled with Beauty, freedom and virtue and while it is a noble notion, the only thing that he felt was holding this ideal future back was the racial inequality that is still quite present to this day. Du Bois is under the impression that all art is propaganda, which seems somewhat ironic considering the fact that he is in a way speaking of his own personal form of propaganda. …show more content…
So under that logic all forms of art be it from a literary perspective or paint on canvas, all of it would be a form of propaganda that is being fed to masses under some secret agenda lead by the
Du Bois take on the Color Line Question: Class and Race in the Globalization Age William Edward Burghardt Dubois born in 1868 and died in 1963 was a Black American academic, activist for peace and civil rights, and socialist who wrote about sociology, philosophy, race equality, history and education. The evaluation of W.E.B Du Bois’s studies brings out social and intellectual initiatives especially his color line concept and its role to the history of African Americans (Butler, 2000). The color line concept is the role of racism and race in society and history. However, an analysis that is multidimensional which finds and evaluates the intersection of race together with class as modes of resistance and domination on national and international
It was commonly conceived by white people that African culture is inferior to their own. Du Bois later claims, “the sense of identity thrust upon black Americans living in a world in which white political and economic leaders assumed that to be American was to be white.”
204). The art showed off their love and passion for their culture and the fearlessness they possessed with the challenges they’ve faced daily. The upper and middle classes of the black community could only relate to the white community by denying their tie to the lower class (Huggins, p. 204). The difference is, the lower class wasn’t so effected by the shame, they loved every part of their poor, loud, and acentric lives.
Black people have a rich and vibrant culture and that showed through clearly with the Harlem Renaissance. Since land-lords wouldn’t rent out in most other areas, a lot of African-Americans were concentrated in Harlem. Being in close contact with other black people and with the encouragement of “The Crisis”, a lot of creative work was being put out by black artists. A significant contribution would be jazz music. In regards to the Hofstader thesis, Dubois was not actually white, but he was middle class.
Du Bois uses many different ways to target the reader. His main purpose in “Of Our Spiritual Strivings”, is to educate mistreated Africans American about demanding equality and rights that were promised to them around the time of the Emancipation Proclamation. Du Bois uses different types of literary devices (mostly personifications) and firsthand accounts stories about injustice to make his point to the reader. For example, Du Bois states, “Will America be poorer if she replaces her brutal dyspeptic blundering with light-hearted but determined Negro humility?” (Du Bois 297).
Du Bois discussed once the southerners became prejudiced against them, all different injustices started unraveling. Firstly, restaurants, bathrooms, schools, and transportation were isolated for their used only. Secondly, they were denied their civil liberties like their right to vote, free speech, or the right to privacy. Thirdly, their human rights were violated. The black folk and their families of 8 to 10 slept in a 1 or 2 room cabin violating their right to a decent life.
Dr. W.E.B Du Bois uses this essay to sway the audience of the insufficiency of the statements that Mr. Booker T. Washington has made about African Americans being submissive of rights and the creation of wealth. Mr. Washington believes that the black race should give up and give into what the society norms were at that time sequentially just to have a certain right. Dr. Du Bois refused to believe that the black race should give up one right to get another right. Especially, when the white South had all rights without expecting to give up anything to have those rights.
DuBois’s first post-dissertation book, The Philadelphia Negro, released in 1899, determined that housing and employment discrimination were the principal barriers to racial equality and black prosperity in the urban North. (blackpast.org/aah/dubois-william-edward-burghardt-1868-1963) In his written book, The Souls of Black Folks, released in 1903, he argued for "manly" and "ceaseless agitation and insistent demand for equality” which demanded a education of equality for blacks that’s not inferior to whites. (W. E. B. Du Bois and the NAACP, Virginia Historical Society) Du Bois promoted the idea of self improvement, without giving up full citizenship rights, which impacted the general well being of African American and visualized the idea of having an exclusive group of all black, educated leaders called “The
As mentioned earlier, Du Bois most prominently stressed education as a means to earn political power. Du Bois argued that political power could be accumulated through social change facilitated by the Talented Tenth (Painter, 155). In other words, Du Bois thought it was important for the most educated African Americans to lead the masses of the African American race out of oppression. Thus, W.E.B Du Bois stressed the importance of education and political action above all
Du Bois uses rhetorical devices to express/prove his point of view. An example of this would in paragraph 1; “O water, voice of my heart, crying in the sand,...” He uses symbolism to express meaning and empathy. He wants you to feel black people’s pain. Another example would be in paragraph 2; “...unasked question:…”
In the mid-to-late 1800s the African American community faced opposition and segregation. They were segregated from the whites and treated as second-class citizens. This segregation was caused in part by Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow laws separated races in schools, hospitals, parks, public buildings, and transportation systems. Both Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois had ideas on how to improve African American lives, Washington believed in starting at the bottom and working up whereas Du Bois had an opposing viewpoint he saw starting from the bottom as submissive and believed African Americans should hold important jobs in order to demand equal treatment.
In Du Bois’ the Problem of the Color Line at the Turn of the 20th Century, he gives context that places the prejudice of America on a scale, he states, “This fissure between white and black is not everywhere of the same width. Naturally it is the widest in the former slave states and narrowest in the older and more cultivated east. It seldom, however, wholly closes up in New England, while it is threatening width in the south is the Negro Problem,” (Du Bois, 35). The color line in this sense is the fissure of the whites and blacks. The greatest depth of the line is that closest in the heart of the south.
Du Bois believed in the pursuit of intellect though higher education, to gain equal rights for African Americans. He was an intelligent, outspoken, “enormously ambitious and disciplined” black leader. (White, p.459) “Du Bois had been born in 1868 to a family that had been free for generation.” (White, p.459) Being born into freedom Du Bois never experienced the harsh labor experiences that most slaved African American children had to face.
In the analysis of the abundance of wonderful leaders who made a difference in the African American community since emancipation, W.E.B Du Bois made a special impact to advance the world. From founding the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, to his influential book The Souls of Black Folk, he always found an accurate yet abstract way of verbalizing the strives of African Americans as well as making platforms for them to be known. Although he had less power than most of the bigger named African American leaders of his time, W.E.B Dubois’ overweighing strengths verses weaknesses, accurate and creative analogies, leadership style, and the successful foundations he stood for demonstrates his ability to be both realistic and accurate in his assessment since emancipation. Though Du Bois did have a beneficial impact
In the 1920s and 1930s, a large movement of art and literature took place in the city of Harlem. Many African American authors express their thoughts and ideas through anyway possible. Whether it be music, art, or literature, its impact gave the African Americans a new place in society. One composer of music was very influential to all people. His name is Duke Ellington.