W.E.B Dubois Leader in Education Analysis
W.E.B Dubois Leader in Education Analysis
A scholar, activist, novelist, leader, author, editor and a public speaker, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was one of the most significant African-American during the period of early 20th century. He was born on February 23rd, 1868 to a poor family in Massachusetts. When he grew up, Du Bois’s teachers nurtured him as a bright student and upon graduating in 1884, was insisted by his school principal to pursue a college degree. He then enrolled in Harvard as a junior in and around fall of 1888 and earned a doctorate from the University in 1891. Later, from 1892-1894 he studied at the University of Berlin in Germany and upon having returned to the United States, started teaching at Wilberforce University in Ohio. There he also concluded his dissertation on the African slave trade thus achieving a Ph D. from Harvard University in 1896.
As a master of reformation, he was a brave man who questioned the then existing education system that delimited the growth of African-Americans in the society (Biography.com Editors, 2016).
As the co-founder of NAACP (National Association for Advancement of Colored People), Du Bois was a great supporter of Pan Africanism. Along with other activists, he started the Niagara Movement to put an end to racial discrimination that spread like an epidemic in the United States. Besides his inclination towards development of African-Americans, Du Bois was an excellent speaker and writer and lived his last moments with pride in Ghana in 1963. Other than writing throughout his life, Du Bois worked as an avant-garde revolutionist for a majority of social causes.
Throughout his seventy plus years of scholarship and active involvement, the most productive years in Du Bois’s life was when he was in Georgia. Although he spent a majority of his life in New Zealand, his study on social issues was mostly based on Georgia and other southern regions (Alridge, Derrick P., 2016).
His Professional Writings
The Philadelphia Negro: A social study was the landmark study and the first case study of the African-American public published by Du Bois in 1899. This achievement marked the beginning of his writing career. In his writings, he framed the term – ‘the talented tenth’ which signified the possibility of one in ten black men playing leadership roles in the niche community.
Du Bois also printed his seminal text which was a rare collection of 14 essays, The Souls of Black Folk in 1903. Later in the years to come, he supported women’s rights through his public speaking’s and confronted the idea of racial inequality. He also contributed as an editor of the monthly magazine, The Crisis which exemplified the existing racial problems and several ways to curb them. His achievement Black Reconstruction in America was a precise reevaluation of the reconstruction age. In fact, his writing approach was to awaken the readers from their racists slaughter and see the world free from slavery and dominance (Biography.com Editors, 2016).
Du Bois served as an editor of two short-term magazines, Moon and Horizon which depicted some of his early efforts to create journals of intellectual and political aspects of black leadership. A prolific youth, Du Bois was not only a brilliant student at school but also made significant contributions to a couple of regional newspapers as well, more specifically, the Springfield Republican and the one led by Black-New York Globe (Biography.com Editors, 2016).
Professional Contributions including significant assumptions and ideas
Du Bois got a chance to study economics, political economy, history and politics at the University of Berlin and wrote a thesis on agricultural economics in South America. He extensively travelled across Europe which helped him get a clear picture of the racism hit United States of America. On his twenty fifth birthday, he was pleased to write a journal entry that demonstrated his dire commitment towards accomplishing his professional goals. After having returned to the US, Du Bois pursued his career as a prolific writer and scholar and took over teaching as a full time profession at Wilberforce University in Ohio. As an economics and history professional at Atlanta University from the period 1897 to 1910, Du Bois administered a series of modules on urban blacks (Alridge, Derrick P., 2016).
Du Bois’s involvement stood as a contradictory notion to the stance of Booker T. Washington, a leader who supported vocational education over higher education for the visible minority. When Washington was accepted as the chief spokesperson of the blacks, Du Bois was highly wary of his position as he supported mainly the wealthy whites and those in power. However, it was in 1904, that the two leaders sorted out their personal differences at a conference in New York and together with Hugh Browne were chosen to lead a committee for the growth and prosperity of the Negro race.
Unlike Washington, Du Bois called for immediate reforms and boldly challenged both the races on social and educational reforms to foster a positive change in the society. His active participation created a platform for all future changes in America’s racist culture (Biography.com Editors, 2016).
How relevant or helpful is this person’s work or contribution towards the society?
W.E.B Du Bios was one of the most prominent figures in American civil rights history. He made significant contributions to the field of sociology with extensive publishing. In fact, he was an exceptional trendsetter not willing to admit the social culture of African-Americans. Moreover, his efforts towards growth and development of scientific sociology in America have been noteworthy.
Du Bois’s works together idealize him as a powerful leader and activist who evolved with a highly conceptualized and methodological approach with clearly defined commitments concerning the problem of racists inequality in America. His ideas and assumptions were historical and recognized globally.
Du Bois joined the Leftist Southern Negro Youth Congress as a supporter at the beginning of the cold war and rising consumerism. By 1948, he also associated with the Progressive party and Henry Wallace’s presidential bid as a mindful supporter (Biography.com Editors, 2016).
Further, W.E.B Du Bois’s work has been beneficial for Africana Critical Theory and has inspired a bunch of thinkers in this direction. Also, his philosophical work was used as the focus point by many other thinkers and activists who appreciated it greatly for his pledge for unleashing truth about African-American historical phase.
What influence did W.E.B. Du Bois had on education in the United States?
The best thing about Du Bois was, he always self-implemented what he preached. His speeches have been inspiring and influential for many and his pen and voice have been his greatest weapons throughout his life. Through his teachings, he motivated blacks to toil for their rights they have been deprived for long and also taught them to be proud of themselves and their accomplishments, no matter who and where they are.
He also outlined an undergraduate program which was one year of economics study and the graduate sociological study program which was another year of Sociology study at Atlanta University. Instead of focusing on a study based on library research, the program was so designed that it called for a field based learning activity and students were usually in while receiving training in statistics, ecological analysis and ethnography.
Through this book, The Souls of Black Folk Du Bois challenged the well-known African American Booker T. Washington by confronting his notion that industrial education alone would result in equality. Further, he also supported the fact that African-Americans must be bestowed with the rights to obtain higher education so that they become capable of educating other African-Americans later (Alridge, Derrick P., 2016).
A day before Martin Luther King Jr. conveyed his message “I have a dream” through his speech at the March in Washington, W.E.B Du Bois passed away on August 27th, 1963 in Ghana while working on an encyclopedia related to African Diaspora. He was indeed a brilliant model of humanist civil rights activism and will be in the minds of many more leaders to come (Biography.com Editors, 2016).
As long as the whites enjoy the racists privilege over blacks, and dominate their freedom and rights of being humans, Du Bois’s theories, teachings and writings will be considered as relevant, inspiring and influential to the readers across the world. His sincere efforts to serve humanity for the greater good have been commendable!
References
Biography.com Editors. (Year, Month. Day). In W.E.B Du Bios Biography. Retrieved May. 28, 2016, from http://www.biography.com/people/web-du-bois-9279924
Alridge, Derrick P. "W. E. B. Du Bois in Georgia." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 06 January 2016. Web. 26 May 2016.
