In his landmark collection of essays, The Souls of Black Folk (1903), William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, (W.E.B. Du Bois), a professor of sociology at Atlanta University, disputed some of the main principles touted by Booker T. Washington who at the time was the eminent African American voice of the new century. Washington had argued in his 1901 Autobiography, “Up From Slavery”, that acquiring property and achieving economic self-sufficiency was the only way African Americans could prove themselves productive members of society and striving for those achievements were more important to Black progress than fighting for civil rights. Du Bois did not believe that there would be a steady obliteration racial prejudice and discrimination in America by personal success of some individuals. Instead, he argued, presciently some might note now, that there was no fight of more paramount importance than that of voting rights and political representation. Du Bois prophesied in the opening lines of The Souls of Black Folk : “The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.” An uncompromising advocate of civil and voting rights, Du Bois asserted that through “work, culture, and liberty” the dual heritage of African Americans—what he called “double-consciousness”—could be melded into a force for positive social and cultural change in the United States. Du Bois’ imbuing his essays with a synthesis of racial and national consciousness dedicated to “the ideal of human brotherhood” made The Souls of Black Folk one of the most provocative and influential works of African American literature in the 20th century.
The Souls of Black Folk
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Author: Du Bois, W.E.B.
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 9798456924551
Details:
Author: Du Bois, W.E.B.
Binding: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 209
Release Date: 14-08-2021
Package Dimensions: 8.0 x 5.0 x 0.5 inches Languages: english
EAN: 9798456924551
