Black Reconstruction by W.E.B. Du Bois
This book by W.E.B. Du Bois was first published in 1935. It takes a deeper depth in examining Reconstruction of the south in the Civil War of America. It delves more on the economic front. The most significant argument in the text is basically that black and white workers were divided on racial grounds after the civil war (Du and Edward 12). This had an unfortunate result. The white class which had a lot of property took advantage of them since the laborers could not stand against them. This, according to DU Bois, was what he calls the failure of reconstruction and the reason why Jim Crow laws, together with other injustices arose.
The relevance of this book lies in its landmark work in the early sociology of the United States. DU Bois used his historical scholarship and techniques to gather primary source data in the research of the former Confederate States and their economies (Du 2). This primary data was ground-breaking. Mr. W.E.B performed the first rigorous and systematic analysis of the reconstruction of the political economies of the southern states. His analysis and research was based on the actual data he collected during that specified period (Du 10). Mr. DU Bois argues that the decision by slaves to stop working in the southern plantations was the first example of a General Strike. This argument is the rhetoric that he uses throughout the book to state that the Civil War was mainly a war fought over issues of labor.
The research fully disestablishes the racist, anecdotal views that came to form the so called scholarships of the period of reconstruction. W.E.B’s research completely discredits the notion of the post- Appomattox and post-emancipation which the south had degenerated into either political or economic chaos (Du and Edward 15). The military and the armed forces kept in a state of chaos. However, one of the achievements of the reconstruction of state governments was the establishment of the very first systems of primary education. This they did because of the reconstruction of the already written state constitution, which for the very first time established free primary education system and schooling for the state’s children. In addition to that first achievement of state governments, they also established public departments of health which promoted public sanitation and health as well as combating diseases which were epidemic and inherent of the southern climate (Du and Edward 44).
Du Bois, unlike other authors of the Reconstruction, portrays it as a success. Other writers have long portrayed it as a failure but he states that it was the crucible of the legislation of civil rights. It defined great hope for America along more egalitarian lines. Even though this book deals squarely on the point of view of a black man, it uses the Marxist labor relations views at that particular time to show how the Republicans who were leading that time came to terms with the new emerging and industrializing society in the United States. Being a very ingenious writer, Du Bois researches through layers of history to reveal the very persons that were most affected by Reconstruction. The author also talks about Lincoln who apparently struggled with his own racist prejudices but eventually came to accept black people for the very significant role they played in the war. One of the most intriguing parts of the book is where Du Bois notes that a black man did not become a black man until he learned how to hold a gun in battle (Du 21).
Du Bois felt that Lincoln did not really alter his views in the course of the war when he refused to favor the colonialists’ point of view that blacks were to be repatriated to Africa. Nevertheless, he felt that Lincoln still lacked enough conviction to push forward with the reconstruction. This is because his main concern was to reclaim the southern states. That is why he left the great task of Reconstruction to the “Black” legislatures and radical Republicans in his congress (Du 11). Here, Du Bois shows that blacks recognized that the great task that lay ahead of them in that moment but disobeyed both the federal and state courts which refused to uphold their decisions. In as much as blacks were now members of the United States’ Congress and the legislatures, they did not take over the ruling of the south as their own as it is often described. A good example is South Carolina where the blacks outnumbered the whited yet only temporarily seized the legislature. They also only forced the new state constitution but never seized the control of the whole state (Du and Edward 66).
Race relations have unfolded, perhaps differently from the expectations of the four fathers and other old historians. That is why it why it would be prudent to say that the essential work of W.E.B. Dubois is greatly underrated and that part of history grossly neglected. The story being told from a vantage point of a Black American man, it is also safe to say that this is one of the most essential voices that is missing in a racially sanitized and neatly politicized periods of the American history and the historical scholarship of America. The Emphasis of Du bois writing is on courageous display of both whites and blacks (Du 47). He does not refuse to give credit where it is due. For example, he gives credit to the humane and noble slave owners and to the much underrated and seldom mentioned contributions of the Negroes who participated in the struggle during that time (Du 48).
The Civil War followed by the Reconstruction period, Du Bois says, was one of the most courageous and heroic moments in the history of America. The American South became one of the last points of slavery in 1860. W.E.B. Dubois retells the history of American politics and what came to shape the American society. Before his book, it was a common acceptance that the Civil war was a tragic war that set brother against brother, generic slaves only merely acting as a backdrop of history. It was also a common acceptance that the Reconstruction was a disastrous glitch that was caused by a “premature” leadership which granted black people political and civil rights, including the right to vote. According to Mr. Dubois, the three common theses about the reconstruction were; one, all Negroes were extravagant, dishonest and lazy. Two, all Negroes were ignorant and three, Negroes were responsible for the bad governance during the Reconstruction (Du and Edward 66).
Compared to Du Bois work, the most recent writers have one attitude. They do not conceive Negroes as men (Du 43). He meant his work to be a contribution to the unspoken and in most cases the underrated contribution of Black freedmen and Black slaves who like their white counterparts, shaped both the social and political destiny of America. The Whites alone did not shape the American society. Blacks also did. This in fact is a seminal achievement. W.E.B. Dubois is an author that makes a more lasting contribution to history that enables the Black Reconstruction to be a useful political tool today. While reading the book, it is clear that the author’s intention was not just to write a historical book, a fact that made his first publication to be maligned (Du 50). He wanted to use Marxism as a framework for explaining and understanding of the history of Black oppression. In the Jim Crowe era, where Du Bois was, it was unthinkable for a black man to carry out a research by studying in the South. Thus Du Bois used the available avenues to him to carry out his own research and write the historically relevant and compelling book. He connected the exploitation of Black slaves and their oppression and then the Black freedmen with the rise of American imperial domination and capitalism.
This book speaks nothing but the truth. It is a wonderful and read. It dwells in the unwritten and underrated part of history which is Black history. Perhaps the most significant part of it is that it connects the dots. It touches on slavery, capitalism, history of congress and the legislature.it also discusses the Reconstruction in depth. Other writers have long portrayed it as a failure but he states that it was the crucible of the legislation of civil rights. It defined great hope for America along more egalitarian lines. Even though this book deals squarely on the point of view of a black man, it uses the Marxist labor relations views at that particular time to show how the Republicans who were leading that time came to terms with the new emerging and industrializing society in the United States (Du and Edward 69).
Works Cited
Du, Bois W. E. B, and Edward F. McSweeney. The Gift of Black Folk: The Negroes in the Making of America. Garden City Park, NY: Square One Pub, 2009. Print.
Du, Bois W. E. B. Black Reconstruction in America: An Essay Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.
Du, Bois W. E. B. Black Reconstruction: An Essay Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co, 1935. Print
