Dubois had accepted a job at Wilberforce. Then, in 1896 he accepted a job at University of Pennsylvania conducting research on the Philadelphia slums. His studies led to his book, The Philadelphia Negro. This writing merely explained crime in black communities. He explained that blacks were not the cause of crime, just a symptom (Hynes, 12). Dubois had a deep analytical perspective for the black culture as a whole. He began to teach economics at Atlanta University (Wager, 3). In this time period, Dubois accomplishments were uncommon for an African American. He had to be tenacious and goal-oriented to make such accomplishments.
In 1903, Dubois published The Soul of Black Folks (Salty’s Stamps, 4). This book illustrates how demeaning it is for blacks to beg for basic rights that inherently belong to them. This book encouraged him to meet with black scholars whom he named the “talented tenth.” In 1905, he began to meet with these scholars to discuss civil rights issues (Lewis, 1). These meeting were known as the Niagara Movement (Lewis, 1). After five years of meeting the NAACP was formed and Dubois was Director of Publicity and Research (Lewis, 1). In 1919, he sailed to France to be an NAACP observer of the Peace Conference (Lewis, 2). While in France he decided to form four Pan-African congresses which failed. Dubois did not gain very much support in his fight for civil rights. He was opposed to the ideas of people like Marcus Garvey who wanted blacks to go back to Africa.
Dubois was a very unique civil rights leader. He had taken a trip to Russia in 1927 and this led him to favor the communist regime. He read and admired Friedrich Engel and Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto. In 1935, he wrote a Marxist interpretation of the Reconstruction era called, Black Reconstruction (Salty’s Stamps, 6). He had also written his autobiography, Dusk of Dawn. Chairmen of the NAACP had forced Dubois to retire because of his communist interests. Dubois was the first black to favor communism. He challenged blacks to demand equality with whites economically, politically, and civilly. Dubois’ strong desire for the liberation of blacks led him to travel to Africa. In 1945, he assembled a fifth Pan-African congress in Manchester, England and met with African leaders Kwane Nkrumah and Jomo Kenyatta (Lewis, 2). When he returned, he became chairman of the Peace Information Center, an organization committed to the ban of nuclear weapons. The Secretary of State accused the center of being a communist organization (Salty’s Stamps, 8). This caused Dubois to be indicted on charges of being a USSR agent. He was acquitted of these charges. In 1958, Dubois traveled to China and Russia and received the Lenin Peace prize (Salty’s Stamps, 8). He eventually joined the American Communist Party and moved to Ghana. Apparently tired of the hardship and little support, he renounced his American citizenship and remained in Ghana until his death.
The life and death of William Edward Burghardt Dubois was ironic. He was not recognized as a civil rights leader despite his accomplishments. He was highly disliked because of his view. Dubois was extraordinarily unique because he was a black communist. At his death, few Americans attended his funeral or acknowledged his death. Just as in modern society, people disliked him because he was different. He did not want to go back to Africa but he wanted equality with whites at his home. He challenged the minority to stand for change and not take the beating or run to Africa. W.E.B. Dubois was a great intellectual who challenged blacks to stand up for their rights instead of begging for them.
Works Cited
Donalson, Melvin. Cornerstones: An Anthology of African-American
Literature. New, York: St. Martin, 1996
Hynes, Gerald C. “A Biographical Sketch of W.E.B. Dubois.” W.E.B
Dubois Learning Center. Online, Internet 2001
Available:
Lewis, D.L. “Dubois, W.E.B.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online, Internet
2004
Available:
Salty’s Stamps. “Celebrate the Century- W.E.B. Dubois” Salty’s Stamps
Online, Internet September 2002
Available:
Wager, Jennifer. “W.E.B. Dubois: Freedom Fighter.” The W.E.B Dubois
Virtual Library. Online, Internet 1994
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