ipl-logo

The Souls Of Black Folk W. E. B. Dubois Analysis

576 Words3 Pages

In “The Souls of Black Folk”, W.E.B. Du Bois talks about racial inequality and that the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line. For Du Bois the color line requires a multidimensional analysis which identifies and seeks to understand the intersection of race and class as both modes of domination and modes of resistance on the national and international level. Setting out to show the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth Century, Du Bois explains the meaning of the emancipation, and its effect. I agree with Du Bois’s standpoint on the color line. I feel like there has always been a color line where whites are above the color line and people of color are below it. Blacks have been forced to be double conscious of their color while wearing a veil and being discriminated …show more content…

E. B. DuBois talks about how the “veil” that African Americans have been forced to wear has played its part in keeping them under the color line. The veil suggests to the literal darker skin of Blacks, which is a physical demarcation of difference from whiteness, white people’s lack of clarity to see Blacks as “true” Americans, and the veil refers to Blacks’ lack of clarity to see themselves outside of what white America describes and prescribes for them. This veil is worn by all African-Americans because their view of the world and its potential economic, political, and social opportunities are so vastly different from those of white people. The veil is a visual manifestation of the color line, a problem Du Bois worked his whole life to remedy. Du Bois investigates the influence that segregation and discrimination have had on black people. He argues that many of the negative stereotypes of blacks as lazy, violent, and simple-minded are results of the treatment from white people. Blacks have always had to face barriers and obstacles in life to reach success, while the pathway to success for whites is without obstacles due to white

Show More
Related

  • W. E. B Dubois Color Line Analysis

    870 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Plessy V. Ferguson's Theory Of Civil Rights

    1551 Words  | 7 Pages

    For nearly a century, the United States was occupied by the racial segregation of black and white people. The constitutionality of this “separation of humans into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life” had not been decided until a deliberate provocation to the law was made. The goal of this test was to have a mulatto, someone of mixed blood, defy the segregated train car law and raise a dispute on the fairness of being categorized as colored or not. This test went down in history as Plessy v. Ferguson, a planned challenge to the law during a period ruled by Jim Crow laws and the idea of “separate but equal” without equality for African Americans. This challenge forced the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of segregation, and in result of the case, caused the nation to have split opinions of support and

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Condemnation Of Blackness

    650 Words  | 3 Pages

    Professor Khalil Girban Muhammad gave an understanding of the separate and combined influences that African Americans and Whites had in making of present day urban America. Muhammad’s lecture was awakening, informative and true, he was extremely objective and analytical in his ability to scan back and forth across the broad array of positive and negative influences. Muhammad described all the many factors during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries since the abolition of slavery and also gave many examples of how blackness was condemned in American society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Professor Muhammad was able to display how on one hand, initial limitations made blacks seem inferior, and various forms of white prejudice made things worse. But on the other hand, when given the same education and opportunities, there are no differences between black and white achievements and positive contributions to society.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Norman Staples's My Negro Problem, And Ours

    713 Words  | 3 Pages

    The ongoing problem of discrimination due to appearance has affected many, specifically black people. One of the most unusual things with no point or definition. This prejudice against black people has caused much unification within the United States. The lives of these black people have been severely affected, as it has affected their acts, appearances, and ways of life. As Brent Staples explains in his essay “Black Men and Public Space,” black people deal with many problems, from discrimination, and he explains these points in an orderly manner and each very thoroughly.

    Read More

  • Comparing W. E. B. Du Bois And Booker T. Washington

    971 Words  | 4 Pages

    Around the end of the 19th century, there lived many people wanting equality between races. Two main leaders of the African American community that emerged during that time were W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. All though both of these men were fighting for the same cause, they disagreed greatly with each other relating to the strategies that could be used to create progress in both the social and economic aspects of how African Americans lived and were treated. The two conflicting philosophies of these men are still affecting how we think of racial inequality, social class injustice, and much more; to this day.

    Read More

  • W. E. B. Dubois And The Progressive Movement

    1182 Words  | 5 Pages

    From 1896 to 1924, America went through a period known as progressivism in which people of all walks of life banded together to oppose conservatism and reform society. Progressives generally believed that government is necessary for change, however; it had to more significantly embody the ideals of democracy. Some of the specific changes that progressives wanted were regulating railroads, a direct election of senators, graduated income tax, limited immigration and eight-hour workdays. By supporting these changes, the progressives hoped to promote and expand democracy and thus give the people more power.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of E. B. Dubois

    838 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Masks in 'We Wear the Mask' and 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

    1218 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear the Mask” the speaker wears a mask to hide his internal suffering because he does not want the rest of the world to think he is weak. This poem relates the prejudice black people face against white people. The speaker starts the poem with the lines, “We wear the mask that grins and lies,” (1). Here he describes the kind of “masks” that he wears.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Web Du Bois And Booker T Dubois

    807 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Dubois And Booker T Washington

    681 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Color Line Racism

    1740 Words  | 7 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of W. E. B. Dubois's Black Reconstruction In America

    1591 Words  | 7 Pages

    African-American historian W.E.B Dubois illustrated how the Civil War brought the problems of African-American experiences into the spotlight. As a socialist, he argued against the traditional Dunning interpretations and voiced opinions about the failures and benefits of the Civil War era, which he branded as a ‘splendid failure’. The impacts of Civil War era enabled African-Americans to “form their own fraternal organizations, worship in their own churches and embrace the notion of an activist government that promoted and safeguarded the welfare of its citizens.”

    Read More

  • W. E. B. Dubois Analysis

    944 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Masking And Signification In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

    914 Words  | 4 Pages

    Masks hide the truth and obscure the facts. They form a barrier between what is real and what is an illusion. Yet, during from the moment blacks were brought to this continent in chains, to the moment they were granted civil rights in the 1960’s, masks were a method of survival. Another way of life for African Americans was the practice of signifying. Signifying is mostly seen in the black literary tradition as a means for African Americans to take back power from the white through misinformation and deception.

    Read More

  • Double Consciousness In Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man

    1924 Words  | 8 Pages

    DuBois wants to communicate the metaphor of the veil, which is worn by all African Americans because their view of the world and potential opportunities are so different than that of white people. Although DuBois uses both double consciousness and the veil as two separate concepts, their meanings deeply intertwine. He sees the veil as a gift of sorts to African Americans because it provides them with a second sight, which could potentially be a blessing and a curse. Double consciousness makes it hard for African Americans to establish their identity, which was made harder by the negative white American view of

    Read More

More about The Souls Of Black Folk W. E. B. Dubois Analysis

Open Document