This document provides context for an upcoming class discussion on W.E.B. Du Bois and the color line in industrializing America. It introduces Du Bois and his view that the problem of the 20th century would be the color line. It also introduces Booker T. Washington, the prominent African American leader at the time Du Bois was writing, and his approach to racial issues. Students are assigned to read chapters from Du Bois' work The Souls of Black Folk and discuss on a class blog what Du Bois saw as wrong with Washington's approach and Du Bois' alternative vision.

1. W. E. B. Du Bois and the
Color Line in Industrializing
America
HIST 1302: US History Survey,
1877-The Present
Week 4

2. Prof. Dobe's Introduction

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.