preview

Double Consciousness Du Dubois Analysis

Decent Essays

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was an African-American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, co-founder of NAACP, and author of “The Crisis” which is the longest running black publication in the United States. Du bois was born in 1868 in Massachusetts, the same year that the 14th amendment was passed, about five years after the emancipation proclamation, and three years after the American civil war. He graduated with two bachelor’s degree and was the first African-American to receive his PHD from Harvard University. Dubois was also a peace activist who advocated nuclear disarmament, and he was one of the first proponents of race-conflict theory. Du bois work on the idea of “Double-consciousness” attempts to answer: What is it like to be a visible minority in America, especially for those who identify as black or African-American? How does it feel to be a problem? Du bois argued that the problems in black communities were not due racial inferiority, but due racial prejudice and the dual identity …show more content…

He wrote “One ever feels his twoness, an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring id.” He describes that there are two competing identities which are at dire odds with one another. Du bois argued that the dual identity of African-Americans is unique and valuable, however, the society prevents this identity becoming fully active. The right to vote, have freedom, access education, have higher income jobs, and to be treated as any other human being was diminished for African-Americans in Du bois era. Du bois did not want to Africanize America, for America has much to teach the world and Africa, neither he would change his negro soul in that negro blood has a message to the world. He studied everyday lives of black and white Americans and why their lives differed tremendously after post-slavery

Get Access