Preview

. E. B. Dubois, of the Dawn of Freedom: a Synopsis and Critical Discussion

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
838 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
. E. B. Dubois, of the Dawn of Freedom: a Synopsis and Critical Discussion
Larry

04/04/06

W. E. B. Dubois, Of the Dawn of Freedom: A synopsis and critical discussion

William Edward Burghardt Dubois' work, The Souls of Black Folk, gave a critical discuss of the early, twentieth century through the eyes of the Negro. Although many have limited this work to Dubois' argument of, The Talented Tenth, it should be noted that Dubois' work encompasses much more than that. The purpose of the essay is to summarize and give a critical eye to W. E. B. Dubois' Of the Dawn of Freedom.

In the first line of this work Dubois, states the now famous and words that would be reiterated by most Black intellectuals and social scientist of the twentieth and now early twenty-first century, "THE PROBLEM of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line". From here Dubois funnels into his thesis, declaring that, the aim of the "essay to study the period of history from 1861 to 1872 so far as it relates to the American Negro."[1]

From here Dubois, gives a synopsis of the civil war, partially through the eyes of the Negro, and the politics behind it. He briefly discusses, weather or not slavery was the true reason for the Civil War. After this discussion Dubois led into the official, Dawn of Freedom, which was when slaves were officially freed.

Dubois, then leads into the affects of the Freedmen's Bureau and helped Blacks, in the beginning of this new era of their lives. He discuss how the Freedmen's Bureau and "Freedmen's Aid societies, born of the touching appeals from Pierce and from these other centers of distress. There was the American Missionary Association, sprung from the Amistad, and now full-grown for work; the various church organizations, the National Freedmen's Relief Association, the American Freedmen's Union, the Western Freedmen's Aid Commission,—in all fifty or more active organizations, which sent clothes, money, school-books, and teachers southward."[2]

Dubois then discusses the facts

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In Chapter 1 of the second paragraph of W.E.B. DuBois’s The Souls of Black Folk, DuBois uses a descriptive style of writing to create a sense of deep spiritual connection with his reader. DuBois incorporated numerous vivid phrases, such as “rollicking boyhood” and “wee wooden schoolhouse” to deliver the reader into the very place and time of an unforgettable event that happened when he was a young child. This event sets the tone of his book as it gives the reader an explanation for the motives behind every decision he made in his lifetime. The words “vast veil” becomes a powerful way to grasp the very essence of DuBois’s feelings toward white people. In a unique application of “the blue sky”, DuBois constructs a vibrant picture of joyful…

    • 164 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    a Massachusetts born man that was greatly admired in his later years by many of his peers for his big steps he took for the African American civil rights. After graduating from Great Barrington High School he went to the University of Berlin finding out that he had a great passion in African American history he went to the University of Harvard to broaden he knowledge on the history of African Americans.…

    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    W.E.B DuBois’s “The Souls of Black Folk”, introduces “the veil” and “double-consciousness” as two concepts that describe the typical Black experience in America. The concepts gave a name to the agony that many African-Americans felt but could not express. The concept of “the veil” refers to three things. The 1st veil refers to the dark skin of Blacks, which is a physical distinction from whiteness. The 2nd veil refers to a white person’s ability to clearly see Blacks as real Americans. The 3rd veil refers to Black person’s ability to clearly see themselves outside of the description that White America prescribes for them.…

    • 327 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “… the Emancipation Proclamation seemed but to broaden and intensify the difficulties; and the War Amendments made the Negro problems of to-day” (11). The Emancipation Proclamation abolished slavery, but there was still loopholes to the system which allowed slavery and gave the open window for racism and inequality to still exist. This is because African Americans were never seen to be as an equal to the white man. Dubois also mentioned in one of his essays the importance of educating and training the black man. He spoke on this from a position where he believed that all men should obtain a skill and become educated to break the ongoing cycle of blacks not being educated. He provided statistics to show that African Americans can be successful when it comes to higher learning. “… there were, in the years from 1875 to 1800, 22 Negro graduates from Northern colleges; from 1885 to 1890 there were 43, and from 1895 to 1900, nearly 100 graduates. From Southern Negro colleges there were, in the same three periods, 143, 413, and over 500 graduates” (73-74). He expressed that black people could break the standard of being uneducated and not having the determination to…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Talented Tenth Summary

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages

    W.E.B. Bois believed in and valued. He contemplated on the reasons why the Negros had not taken their rightful position in the society even after the freedom of reconstruction period (Washington 65). The whites still occupied major positions in the society while the blacks were considered as the second human beings. Their thought that the slavery period was concluded did not ring sense in the minds of their former masters. Being a scholar, Mr. Du Bois advocated for the few learned blacks to be aggressive at seeking the available positions in governance. He had the hope that if they continued to forge towards their desire then one of their bright young men could represent them at the high positions. The agenda of equity was further advocated by the church missionaries who regarded life as God-given and that all people were created equally (Horne…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the early 1900’s both Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois presented a plan for racial justice. While the two plans fought for the same people, their approach, ideologies, and goals differed. Both men were brave to speak out, but overall Du Bois created a plan that was radical and one that represented the African American community well. Du Bois most compelling tool used in his plan for racial justice lies in his word choices. The way he uses metaphors like “the veil” and “double consciousness” to highlight what it was like to have dark skin in that time period allows the reader to empathize with him.…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    These two prominent leaders in the up and rising African American population just could not see eye to eye. Dubois disagreed with Washington on what kind of education African Americans should receive, but on how they should start achieving it; he was much more thorough approach than Washington. Dubois was overbearing when compared to his opposite Washington, because he demanded and advocated for political and social reforms in order to gain equal rights for blacks. He strongly believed that African Americans must want their civil rights because they needed these rights to protect themselves. Washington on the other hand ignored discrimination, he felt African Americans should develop close relationships with whites to become prosperous in the…

    • 229 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    It seems as though the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865 was the beginning of the highly anticipated emancipation for African Americans. Unfortunately, the ending of the Civil War was merely a false delusion of the jubilant life in which the colored people could possibly only dream of. Reality though was the reoccurrence of a war of ideologies, with…

    • 3302 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Washington vs DuBois

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages

    On January 1, 1863, the United States’ Negro population was proclaimed “henceforth and forever free” according to President Abraham Lincoln’s establishment of the Emancipation Proclamation. However, years after its release, the Negro population was still mistreated. After the Civil War, white southerners were relentless in establishing themselves as the superior race. The newly implemented Black Codes restricted African Americans' of their new freedom and essentially began a new form of slavery. African Americans experienced violent discrimination and devastating poverty daily. In an attempt to diminish this oppression, two great and well respected leaders of the black community, Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois, offered contrasting approaches. Both methods contributed to the movement; however, one was more appropriate for the time period. Overall, Washington’s philosophy of self help and acceptance of discrimination was the better fit.…

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    To begin with, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois were two important leaders in the Civil Rights Movement. They both had their opposing views on segregation and racism, yet they both wanted more rights and equality for African Americans. They both had a great goal that they wanted to meet. However, In my opinion, W.E.B. DuBois had a greater general idea on how to help African Americans. One of the reasons why I say this is because he was against segregation. Also, he founded the Niagara Movement, and he wanted African Americans to stand up for themselves.…

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dubois wrote The Propaganda of History to show others how the blacks were treated and his opinion on that. Since Dubois was black he had all rights to speak on how he felt about how they were treated. In his work he listed what most of the majority race group of people had said about blacks and he…

    • 321 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    W.E.B Dubois on the other hand wanted the Negros to be totally dependent on them and not to look to the white man for a handout to work hard and earn everything when there isn't a way to make one. He wanted them to go to school and get an…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    W.E.B. DuBois believed that though African Americans were free men, they did not experience the full experience of what it means to be free. The Souls of Black Folk expands the minds of the readers allowing for a deeper acceptance into the lives of the people of African heritage. W.E.B. Du Bois articulates the true meaning of the problem of the color line through history as well as descriptive personal scenarios. In his essay, Du Bois explains the handling of both a rational and an emotional appeal by underlining the facts of racial discrimination through Jim Crow Laws and lynching as well as his personal pain through of childhood memories to demonstrate his viewpoint of the problems of African Americans. Du Bois successfully reaches his audience by sincerely convincing the people of the North and the South. The Souls of Black Folk famously declares, "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line."…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Reconstruction Revisited

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In “Reconstruction Revisited”, Eric Foner reexamines the political, social, and economic experiences of black and white Americans in the aftermath of the Civil War. With the help of many historian works, Foner gives equal representation to both sides of the Reconstruction argument.…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Dubois' writing The Souls of Black Folk, Dubois shows how this idea of justified actions through social Darwinism has corrupted human societies. After the civil war, the reconstruction period began as people began to try and integrate blacks into their society post slavery. The sudden end of slavery left millions of blacks without anything to their names. Many Americans thought of America as "a rich land awaiting development and filled with black laborers"(Dubois 21) who were capable of finding paid work using the abilities they had gained from slavery. The problem with this concept is that we instead "have a mass of workingmen thrown into relentless competition with the workingmen of the world, but handicapped by a training the very opposite to that of the modern self-reliant democratic laborer"(Dubois 21). The idea of fair competition that is discussed in Darwin's On The Origin of Species is not in this society as people are not given a fair opportunity to succeed. This idea of a just chance of survival has been destroyed "after the brains of the race have been knocked out by two hundred and fifty years of assiduous education in submission, carelessness, and stealing"(Dubois 21). The equal opportunity to better one's life which is shown in the justice of the natural world is broken and set aside by American's own interpretation of this justice where the exploitation of blacks is justified due to the genetic inferiority of blacks. This exploitation of blacks also leads to the stagnation of the societies' advancements. Because white people have accumulated such an advantage over black people economically and socially, there is no longer a need to compete against them. Dubois even stated that "the South believed an educated Negro to be a dangerous Negro"(Dubois 15), showing that a Negro who is able to compete with white people for work is something that should be understood as not just an inferior being. Creating a society of equal education levels…

    • 2380 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays