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

Born February 23rd 1868 DuBois spent his life caught between two extremely unsettling times in the history of African-American culture. Living in the time after slavery but before the boom of the civil rights movement in the 1960’s Debois situated himself in such way that he was able to bring awareness about the unique experience felt by many African Americans during this time period. As an African American writer Sociologist, Civil Right Activist and a Pan -Africanist Dubois communicates the reality of his and his people’s struggle in the his paper Double-Consciousness and the Veil. He argues that “ there is a sense of always looking at oneself through the eyes of others”(Dubois,1903,pp.164). Defining what he would essentially coin as the powerlessness felt by many African Americans when they must decide subjectively and objectively weather to be African or American in a given situation.

W.E.B DuBois, Civil Rights activist, journalist, and educator, in his book “Black Reconstruction”, he researched the role African Americans played during America’s Reconstruction period. DuBois targets an audience of any open-minded reader that is willing to read about history from the lens of an African American. In the chapter titled “The Propaganda of History”, as the title suggests, DuBois argues that history is intentionally mispresented in order to influence the beliefs of the generations to come. “The Propaganda of History” analysis why the post-Civil War history remains manipulated and how that affects the African American community. One of his main claims is that the history of African Americans is subjective and belittling, that it

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.

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

During and after WWI, African Americans moved north to evade the rampant racism and discrimination in the south and to seize opportunities for jobs and new land (Document G). White Americans, their oppressors, began to see African Americans as humans because of their supposedly new culture and aspirations. While they weren’t viewed as equal, it was still a start. As expected, when juxtaposing the racial climate of the 1920s and 1998, there is a great disparity. In the late 90s, a time also known for great societal change, African Americans had been given the same rights as white Americans, but not quite the same societal status.

After slavery was ended in the late 1800’s, many African Americans were tasked with the burden of integrating into a society that most of them only knew as servants. This posed a fork in the road for the common African American. Do they assimilate as quietly as possible and learn how to contribute to the American society and economy as a working man? Or do they continue their everlasting fight for even truer equality in America by fighting for voting rights, civil rights, and a higher education opportunity for them and their children? Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois both argued their views on the dilemma that faced their people, with Booker aligning more with the first question and Du Bois associating himself with the second, while refuting Washington’s vision.

After World War I racial tension was at an all-time high in America. Out of this movement one of the first thing to emerge as a consequence of the political awakening of Black Americans was an increase of black militancy. Key political figures like Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. DuBois emerged teaching black militancy and liberation. The Back-to-Africa movement of Marcus Garvey was the most popular way to express the increasing resignation concerning multiracial society, although this approach was chosen primarily by the uneducated part of the African American population. The more sophisticated respond was the development of a new racial pride.

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

Peter Schroeder Dr. Christopher Marshall Modern United States History 2/2/17 Writing Assignment 1: The African-American Experience with Reconstruction Reconstruction among the south refers to the point in time which the United States was attempting to establish a relationship between the union and the rebels. The Union had won the civil war, so the next step was to begin to mend the broken relationship between the north and the south. Though historians cannot agree on when it began, there is merit in saying that it started before the end of the Civil War. After victory, had been solidified for the Union, attention of President Lincoln turned towards reconstruction.

Thesis statement: The two great leaders in the black community debating about the issues that face the Negro race and Du Bois gave a compelling argument by using pathos, logos and ethos to create an essay that will appear to all readers. Outline: This essay will showcase the contradicting philosophies between W.E.B Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. Also, paying close attention to the different types of leadership between the two historic leaders in the black community. Both W.E.B Du Bois and Booker T. Washington contributed to and helped shape the future of African Americans.

African Americans face a struggle with racism which has been present in our country before the Civil War began in 1861. America still faces racism today however, around the 1920’s the daily life of an African American slowly began to improve. Thus, this time period was known by many, as the “Negro Fad” (O’Neill). The quality of life and freedom of African Americans that lived in the United States was constantly evolving and never completely considered ‘equal’. From being enslaved, to fighting for their freedom, African Americans were greatly changing the status quo and beginning to make their mark in the United States.

Reconstruction transformed African Americans lives and improved their lives while it was happening. The thirteenth amendment made it so that all African Americans were freed, but they didn’t always benefit from that. However, most southern states passed “Black Codes” that restricted the rights of African Americans. Though African Americans were granted rights, under the fourteenth amendment their rights were often violated. During Reconstruction, African Americans were better off than they had been before and better off than they would be in the years following Reconstruction. For the first time, African Americans were free, slavery was a thing of the past, and many African Americans hoped for a bright future.

The Civil War and the period of Reconstruction brought significant political, social, and economic changes to American society, and these effects continued into the 20th century.

The United States Civil War is possible one of the most meaningful, bloodstained and controversial war fought in American history. Northern Americans against Southern Americans fought against one another for a variety of motives. These motives aroused from a wide range of ideologies that stirred around the states. In James M. McPherson’s What they fought for: 1861-1865, he analyzes the Union and Confederate soldier’s morale and ideological components through the letters they wrote to love ones while at war. While, John WhiteClay Chambers and G. Kurt Piehler depict Civil War soldiers through their letters detailing the agonizing battles of war in Major Problems in American Military History.

In his landmark collection of essays, The Souls of Black Folk (1903), William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, a professor of sociology at Atlanta University, disputed the main principle of Washington’s political program, the idea that voting and civil rights were less important to black progress than acquiring property and achieving economic self-sufficiency and then Du Bois’s striving to dramatize in his narrator a synthesis of racial and national consciousness dedicated to “the ideal of human brotherhood” made The Souls of Black Folk one of the most