3. W.E.B. DuBois and the Color Line
Looking forward toward the 20th Century
informed by that history, he declared that
the question of the 20th Century would be
the question of what he called "the color
line." From our perspective at the start of
the 21st century, looking back more than
100 years to DuBois' Souls, race relations
did indeed turn out to be a major factor in
20th Century America -- as you will learn in
the weeks of the course which follow.
W.E.B. DuBois
4. DuBois on Booker T. Washington
In Souls, DuBois meditated on the
contemporary condition of his own race in
Jim Crow America, and offered advice for
racial betterment. His essays offer
powerful commentary on leadership.
At the time DuBois wrote his essays, the
pre-eminent leader of Black America was
Booker T. Washington. Born into slavery,
Washington rose to prominence in Gilded
Era America to become the most
recognized leader of African Americans in
both the North and the South.
Booker T.
Washington
5. Reading Assignment and Blog Topic
Several online Editions of Souls are now available. I have
chosen the 1903 edition available on Wikimedia, a version
which also contains a free audio recording.
Go to the Wikimedia site and read the Forethought, Chapter
III and Chapter VI. You can also listen to the Librivox audio
recording that go with these chapters.
6. For Discussion on the Week 4 Blog
According to DuBois, what was wrong with Washington's
approach to the color line? What alternative did Du Bois
propose to that represented by the Tuskegee Institute? Post
your answers to the Week 4 Blog.
7. For Discussion on the Week 4 Blog
According to DuBois, what was wrong with Washington's
approach to the color line? What alternative did Du Bois
propose to that represented by the Tuskegee Institute? Post
your answers to the Week 4 Blog.
Editor's Notes
Welcome to Week 4 of History 1302. I'm Professor Michael Dobe, your instructor for this course. This week's History Blog is on the topic of "W. E. B. Du Bois and the Color Line in Industrializing America." A link to the Week 4 Blog is provided in the Week 4 Folder located in the Blackboard Course Content Area. This week we will read and discuss selections from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois. A Harvard-trained African American Historian, DuBois published his collection in 1903 as the 20th Century dawned. The collection lays out, among other things, his understanding of African American History. Looking forward toward the 20th Century informed by that history, he declared that the question of the 20th Century would be the question of what he called "the color line." From our perspective at the start of the 21st century, looking back more than 100 years to DuBois' Souls, race relations did indeed turn out to be a major factor in 20th Century America -- as you will learn in the weeks of the course which follow. In Souls, DuBois meditated on the contemporary condition of his own race in Jim Crow America, and offered advice for racial betterment. His essays offer powerful commentary on leadership. At the time DuBois wrote his essays, the pre-eminent leader of Black America was Booker T. Washington. Born into slavery, Washington rose to prominence in Gilded Era America to become the most recognized leader of African Americans in both the North and the South. Several online Editions of Souls are now available. I have chosen the 1903 edition available on Wikimedia which also contains a LibriVox audio recording. Go to the Wikimedia site and read the Forethought, Chapter III and Chapter VI. You can also listen to the Librivox audio recording that go with these chapters . Chapter III, entitled Of Mr. Booker T. Washington, contains a critique of Booker T. Washington's approach to improving the position of African Americans in Industrializing America. In Chapter VI, entitled On the Education of Black Men, DuBois offers his own alternative vision of racial uplift. According to DuBois, what was wrong with Washington's approach to the color line? What alternative did Du Bois propose to that represented by the Tuskegee Institute? Post your answers to the Week 4 Blog.
