Curtis J. Evans
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195328189
- eISBN:
- 9780199870028
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195328189.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
W. E. B. Bu Bois and other black leaders played a crucial role in the creation of the “Negro Church.” By using the language and tools of the social sciences, black intellectuals and leaders hoped to ...
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W. E. B. Bu Bois and other black leaders played a crucial role in the creation of the “Negro Church.” By using the language and tools of the social sciences, black intellectuals and leaders hoped to incite and urge the black churches to use their resources to assist and uplift a people downtrodden by racism and economic oppression. Instrumentalists, those who wanted to use the church as a means or instrument for other ends (besides religion), came to dominate interpretations of black religion among African American leaders. Although Du Bois initially hoped to provide detailed local studies of black churches, his long‐term legacy (and that of other black leaders) was to foster longstanding debates about whether the “Black Church” supported or undermined a racist status quo.Less
W. E. B. Bu Bois and other black leaders played a crucial role in the creation of the “Negro Church.” By using the language and tools of the social sciences, black intellectuals and leaders hoped to incite and urge the black churches to use their resources to assist and uplift a people downtrodden by racism and economic oppression. Instrumentalists, those who wanted to use the church as a means or instrument for other ends (besides religion), came to dominate interpretations of black religion among African American leaders. Although Du Bois initially hoped to provide detailed local studies of black churches, his long‐term legacy (and that of other black leaders) was to foster longstanding debates about whether the “Black Church” supported or undermined a racist status quo.
Lawrie Balfour
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195377293
- eISBN:
- 9780199893768
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377293.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter considers how the worldly orientation of Du Bois's political thought might inform political theory as it turns toward the global. The central text in this case is an unlikely one. While ...
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This chapter considers how the worldly orientation of Du Bois's political thought might inform political theory as it turns toward the global. The central text in this case is an unlikely one. While scholars increasingly appreciate the extent of Du Bois's transnational activism and writing in the mid-20th century, this chapter concentrates on The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade the United States of America, 1638–1870 (1896). It argues that Du Bois's first book, although thoroughly American, nonetheless demonstrates the impossibility of constructing a theory of democracy that restricts its concern within US boundaries. Using a contrast between “black world” and “white nation,” it suggests how a close reading of Suppression in conjunction with Martha Nussbaum's For Love of Country reveals the unacknowledged racial politics of recent appeals to cosmopolitanism, on the one hand, and civic nationalism, on the other.Less
This chapter considers how the worldly orientation of Du Bois's political thought might inform political theory as it turns toward the global. The central text in this case is an unlikely one. While scholars increasingly appreciate the extent of Du Bois's transnational activism and writing in the mid-20th century, this chapter concentrates on The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade the United States of America, 1638–1870 (1896). It argues that Du Bois's first book, although thoroughly American, nonetheless demonstrates the impossibility of constructing a theory of democracy that restricts its concern within US boundaries. Using a contrast between “black world” and “white nation,” it suggests how a close reading of Suppression in conjunction with Martha Nussbaum's For Love of Country reveals the unacknowledged racial politics of recent appeals to cosmopolitanism, on the one hand, and civic nationalism, on the other.
Dohra Ahmad
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195332766
- eISBN:
- 9780199868124
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195332766.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
This chapter analyzes the utopian fiction of Pauline Hopkins and W. E. B. Du Bois. In response to a long-standing problem with emplacement, both authors use their fiction to manufacture idealized ...
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This chapter analyzes the utopian fiction of Pauline Hopkins and W. E. B. Du Bois. In response to a long-standing problem with emplacement, both authors use their fiction to manufacture idealized and ahistorical versions of colored empires. Hopkins creates an underground Ethiopian kingdom, while Du Bois uses the force of imagination to link India and the American South into a cohesive but still multiplicitous whole. Hopkins posits utopia not as a unidirectional process of development but a resurrection of an earlier order, while Du Bois strategically employs romance to overcome the limitations of a pragmatic politics of compromise. Their romantic utopianism both responds to Booker T. Washington’s uplift ideology and also participates in a larger philosophy of internationalism emerging in response to colonial rule.Less
This chapter analyzes the utopian fiction of Pauline Hopkins and W. E. B. Du Bois. In response to a long-standing problem with emplacement, both authors use their fiction to manufacture idealized and ahistorical versions of colored empires. Hopkins creates an underground Ethiopian kingdom, while Du Bois uses the force of imagination to link India and the American South into a cohesive but still multiplicitous whole. Hopkins posits utopia not as a unidirectional process of development but a resurrection of an earlier order, while Du Bois strategically employs romance to overcome the limitations of a pragmatic politics of compromise. Their romantic utopianism both responds to Booker T. Washington’s uplift ideology and also participates in a larger philosophy of internationalism emerging in response to colonial rule.
Alexander Livingston
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780813174907
- eISBN:
- 9780813174914
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813174907.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This essay, by Alexander Livingston, analyzes Du Bois’s 1909 biography of the abolitionist John Brown as a work that reveals Du Bois’s beliefs about the meaning and limitations of sacrifice in ...
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This essay, by Alexander Livingston, analyzes Du Bois’s 1909 biography of the abolitionist John Brown as a work that reveals Du Bois’s beliefs about the meaning and limitations of sacrifice in politics. Published amid a national movement toward the “Lost Cause” narrative of the Civil War, John Brown was an indictment of this mentality, pushing readers to continue the fight for racial equality. As with many of Du Bois’s works, central to the book is the concept of sacrifice by all citizens for the good of the democracy. Using the death of John Brown as a symbol of the sacrificial burdens faced by people of color, Du Bois reframes the racialized economy of the Jim Crow era and recasts black Americans as sacrificial agents instead of victims.Less
This essay, by Alexander Livingston, analyzes Du Bois’s 1909 biography of the abolitionist John Brown as a work that reveals Du Bois’s beliefs about the meaning and limitations of sacrifice in politics. Published amid a national movement toward the “Lost Cause” narrative of the Civil War, John Brown was an indictment of this mentality, pushing readers to continue the fight for racial equality. As with many of Du Bois’s works, central to the book is the concept of sacrifice by all citizens for the good of the democracy. Using the death of John Brown as a symbol of the sacrificial burdens faced by people of color, Du Bois reframes the racialized economy of the Jim Crow era and recasts black Americans as sacrificial agents instead of victims.
Lawrie Balfour
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195377293
- eISBN:
- 9780199893768
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377293.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter addresses Du Bois's inquiry into his own exemplarity, his status as both an exemplar or “exception” and an example of “the Problem.” It offers an interpretation of Dusk of Dawn, Du ...
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This chapter addresses Du Bois's inquiry into his own exemplarity, his status as both an exemplar or “exception” and an example of “the Problem.” It offers an interpretation of Dusk of Dawn, Du Bois's 1940 autobiographical exploration of his life and the life of the “race concept,” as a counterpoint to William Connolly's account of identity and difference. Read together, Du Bois and Connolly demonstrate how identity categories shape democratic life; but Du Bois takes a further step, discerning those places in Connolly's work where race is elided and gesturing toward an alternative model of self-fashioning in a racially divided society.Less
This chapter addresses Du Bois's inquiry into his own exemplarity, his status as both an exemplar or “exception” and an example of “the Problem.” It offers an interpretation of Dusk of Dawn, Du Bois's 1940 autobiographical exploration of his life and the life of the “race concept,” as a counterpoint to William Connolly's account of identity and difference. Read together, Du Bois and Connolly demonstrate how identity categories shape democratic life; but Du Bois takes a further step, discerning those places in Connolly's work where race is elided and gesturing toward an alternative model of self-fashioning in a racially divided society.
Joshua Kotin
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691196541
- eISBN:
- 9781400887866
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691196541.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter concerns W. E. B. Du Bois's utopianism during the last fifteen years of his life, after his final break with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The ...
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This chapter concerns W. E. B. Du Bois's utopianism during the last fifteen years of his life, after his final break with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The chapter tracks his increasing commitment to Soviet communism and examines the difficulty and efficacy of his Autobiography (1962, 1968). It asks how Du Bois's utopianism led, finally, to a utopia of one. In the book, Du Bois does more than document the development of his thinking about race and politics, and prefigure the “philosophy of Black Power”—he attempts to radically transform his life. Autobiography is fundamentally different from Du Bois's earlier autobiographies. Indeed, the book addresses the future—an American public (black and white) finally ready to hear the truth about liberalism and communism.Less
This chapter concerns W. E. B. Du Bois's utopianism during the last fifteen years of his life, after his final break with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The chapter tracks his increasing commitment to Soviet communism and examines the difficulty and efficacy of his Autobiography (1962, 1968). It asks how Du Bois's utopianism led, finally, to a utopia of one. In the book, Du Bois does more than document the development of his thinking about race and politics, and prefigure the “philosophy of Black Power”—he attempts to radically transform his life. Autobiography is fundamentally different from Du Bois's earlier autobiographies. Indeed, the book addresses the future—an American public (black and white) finally ready to hear the truth about liberalism and communism.
Robert W. Williams
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780813174907
- eISBN:
- 9780813174914
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813174907.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
In this essay, Robert W. Williams discusses Du Bois’s ideals of democracy and the impact they had on traditional US democratic theory. He juxtaposes Du Bois’s conceptions of difference with those of ...
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In this essay, Robert W. Williams discusses Du Bois’s ideals of democracy and the impact they had on traditional US democratic theory. He juxtaposes Du Bois’s conceptions of difference with those of Iris Marion Young in order to highlight Du Bois’s distinctiveness. Young believes that difference is knowable, whereas Du Bois asserts that it is not, especially in regard to the possibility of scientific objectivity. Using Du Bois’s critiques of science’s limitations and strengths, Williams argues that Du Bois recognized the inadequacies of governance strictly based on science and therefore advocated a democratic form of governance that, although supported by science, would also rely on the participation of diverse groups of citizens.Less
In this essay, Robert W. Williams discusses Du Bois’s ideals of democracy and the impact they had on traditional US democratic theory. He juxtaposes Du Bois’s conceptions of difference with those of Iris Marion Young in order to highlight Du Bois’s distinctiveness. Young believes that difference is knowable, whereas Du Bois asserts that it is not, especially in regard to the possibility of scientific objectivity. Using Du Bois’s critiques of science’s limitations and strengths, Williams argues that Du Bois recognized the inadequacies of governance strictly based on science and therefore advocated a democratic form of governance that, although supported by science, would also rely on the participation of diverse groups of citizens.
David Haekwon Kim
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780813174907
- eISBN:
- 9780813174914
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813174907.003.0012
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This essay, by David Haekwon Kim, examines Du Bois’s political transition during the interwar years from political expressionism to black Marxism. As Du Bois moved from being firmly in one category ...
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This essay, by David Haekwon Kim, examines Du Bois’s political transition during the interwar years from political expressionism to black Marxism. As Du Bois moved from being firmly in one category to entrench himself in the other, his views were broader than those espoused by black Marxism but narrower than those of a radical democrat, best aligning with the theory of decolonial democracy. Du Bois is often hailed as a precursor or progenitor of decolonial thought, as aspects of the central decolonial concept of “coloniality” are sprinkled throughout his work. Kim argues that the tension and complexity of different aspects of Du Bois’s politics reveal Du Bois as a distinctive type of decolonial thinker who experimented with a fusion of black radicalism and the Gandhian notions of liberation and nonviolent resistance.Less
This essay, by David Haekwon Kim, examines Du Bois’s political transition during the interwar years from political expressionism to black Marxism. As Du Bois moved from being firmly in one category to entrench himself in the other, his views were broader than those espoused by black Marxism but narrower than those of a radical democrat, best aligning with the theory of decolonial democracy. Du Bois is often hailed as a precursor or progenitor of decolonial thought, as aspects of the central decolonial concept of “coloniality” are sprinkled throughout his work. Kim argues that the tension and complexity of different aspects of Du Bois’s politics reveal Du Bois as a distinctive type of decolonial thinker who experimented with a fusion of black radicalism and the Gandhian notions of liberation and nonviolent resistance.
Lawrie Balfour
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195377293
- eISBN:
- 9780199893768
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377293.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter considers the political implications of Du Bois's 1909 recasting of John Brown's life story. Written at a time when antiblack violence was actively abetted or at least unanswered by ...
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This chapter considers the political implications of Du Bois's 1909 recasting of John Brown's life story. Written at a time when antiblack violence was actively abetted or at least unanswered by white political leaders, John Brown reveals how the disavowal of the violence of the past underwrites current practices of racialized brutality and explores what it would mean to come to terms with the idea that “John Brown was right.” It is argued that although the biography vindicates Brown and his campaign, it also unsettles Brown's conception of American mission and models a tragic form of historical memory that ought to inform our own reflections on race and violence in an age of terror.Less
This chapter considers the political implications of Du Bois's 1909 recasting of John Brown's life story. Written at a time when antiblack violence was actively abetted or at least unanswered by white political leaders, John Brown reveals how the disavowal of the violence of the past underwrites current practices of racialized brutality and explores what it would mean to come to terms with the idea that “John Brown was right.” It is argued that although the biography vindicates Brown and his campaign, it also unsettles Brown's conception of American mission and models a tragic form of historical memory that ought to inform our own reflections on race and violence in an age of terror.
Lawrie Balfour
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195377293
- eISBN:
- 9780199893768
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377293.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter begins with a brief discussion of the controversy sparked by the Virginia General Assembly's introduction of a joint resolution on January 10, 2007, atoning for Virginia's part in the ...
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This chapter begins with a brief discussion of the controversy sparked by the Virginia General Assembly's introduction of a joint resolution on January 10, 2007, atoning for Virginia's part in the enslavement of Africans and calling for racial reconciliation. It then sets out the purpose of the book, which is to come to terms with political theorists' reluctance to treat race and racial injustice as fundamental to the study of modern democratic life. Drawing on the writing of W. E. B. Du Bois, the book examines how his efforts to craft a usable past from unspeakable loss can inspire efforts to conceive alternative, more democratic futures. An overview of the subsequent chapters is presented.Less
This chapter begins with a brief discussion of the controversy sparked by the Virginia General Assembly's introduction of a joint resolution on January 10, 2007, atoning for Virginia's part in the enslavement of Africans and calling for racial reconciliation. It then sets out the purpose of the book, which is to come to terms with political theorists' reluctance to treat race and racial injustice as fundamental to the study of modern democratic life. Drawing on the writing of W. E. B. Du Bois, the book examines how his efforts to craft a usable past from unspeakable loss can inspire efforts to conceive alternative, more democratic futures. An overview of the subsequent chapters is presented.
Lawrie Balfour
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195377293
- eISBN:
- 9780199893768
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377293.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter looks at Du Bois's efforts to correct distorted understandings of Reconstruction, by focusing on African Americans' role in abolition and by redefining the post-war era as the nation's ...
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This chapter looks at Du Bois's efforts to correct distorted understandings of Reconstruction, by focusing on African Americans' role in abolition and by redefining the post-war era as the nation's only genuine experiment in democracy. It is argued that examining the connections Du Bois draws between historical consciousness and the disappointments of the post-Reconstruction period enlarges our understanding of the disappointments that followed the civil rights era or “second reconstruction.” Although Du Bois does not expressly advocate reparations for the former slaves and their descendants, the chapter turns to The Souls of Black Folk and Black Reconstruction to suggest the possibilities opened up by a shift from a political language of formal equality, which is premised on the erasure of the past, to a language that affirms and refigures the past as a vehicle for social change. It asks how reparations might constitute such a language.Less
This chapter looks at Du Bois's efforts to correct distorted understandings of Reconstruction, by focusing on African Americans' role in abolition and by redefining the post-war era as the nation's only genuine experiment in democracy. It is argued that examining the connections Du Bois draws between historical consciousness and the disappointments of the post-Reconstruction period enlarges our understanding of the disappointments that followed the civil rights era or “second reconstruction.” Although Du Bois does not expressly advocate reparations for the former slaves and their descendants, the chapter turns to The Souls of Black Folk and Black Reconstruction to suggest the possibilities opened up by a shift from a political language of formal equality, which is premised on the erasure of the past, to a language that affirms and refigures the past as a vehicle for social change. It asks how reparations might constitute such a language.
Lawrie Balfour
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195377293
- eISBN:
- 9780199893768
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377293.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter focuses on the 1920 essay “The Damnation of Women,” Du Bois's collective biography of African American women. Despite the masculinism that defines much of his writing, and the tensions ...
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This chapter focuses on the 1920 essay “The Damnation of Women,” Du Bois's collective biography of African American women. Despite the masculinism that defines much of his writing, and the tensions that qualify even his strongest arguments on behalf of gender equality, this essay demands that readers grapple with the meaning of “womanhood” and “citizenship” through the lens of black women's history. It also reorients feminist citizenship theory in the United States by demonstrating the need to go beyond reckoning with race to confront the lingering shadows of slavery.Less
This chapter focuses on the 1920 essay “The Damnation of Women,” Du Bois's collective biography of African American women. Despite the masculinism that defines much of his writing, and the tensions that qualify even his strongest arguments on behalf of gender equality, this essay demands that readers grapple with the meaning of “womanhood” and “citizenship” through the lens of black women's history. It also reorients feminist citizenship theory in the United States by demonstrating the need to go beyond reckoning with race to confront the lingering shadows of slavery.
W. E. B. Du Bois
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748622054
- eISBN:
- 9780748651993
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748622054.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, African-American Literature
This chapter analyses the unexplored aspects of W. E. B. Du Bois's work, along with the interrelationships between culture and ethnicity, describing Du Bois as a writer who follows the cultural ...
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This chapter analyses the unexplored aspects of W. E. B. Du Bois's work, along with the interrelationships between culture and ethnicity, describing Du Bois as a writer who follows the cultural nationalism of Yeats in trying to give a voice to disenfranchised people, but whose nationalism has no clear geographical dimension. It shows that Du Bois's writings emerge from the tensions which result from a desire for the retention of black cultural difference and for political equality in America. The chapter concludes that Du Bois's social and cultural thought is characterised by contradiction, and that he introduces cultural pluralism into his writings.Less
This chapter analyses the unexplored aspects of W. E. B. Du Bois's work, along with the interrelationships between culture and ethnicity, describing Du Bois as a writer who follows the cultural nationalism of Yeats in trying to give a voice to disenfranchised people, but whose nationalism has no clear geographical dimension. It shows that Du Bois's writings emerge from the tensions which result from a desire for the retention of black cultural difference and for political equality in America. The chapter concludes that Du Bois's social and cultural thought is characterised by contradiction, and that he introduces cultural pluralism into his writings.
Arash Davari
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780813174907
- eISBN:
- 9780813174914
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813174907.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Arash Davari’s essay examines the representation of contemporary social movements in popular culture and media, tracing the recent global shift from centralized models of self-governance to more ...
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Arash Davari’s essay examines the representation of contemporary social movements in popular culture and media, tracing the recent global shift from centralized models of self-governance to more collective forms that better align with modern democratic ideals. Black political culture is undergoing the same shift, rejecting the old form of male charismatic leadership. Davari questions whether this is the most effective strategy of achieving a democratic future oriented toward racial justice and radical democracy, and turns to the early writings of W. E. B. Du Bois as a model for better representation and articulation of social change. Du Bois’s early writings are reflections on social change for racial justice, and they affirm the idea that power cannot be eliminated, only reconstituted in ways that are compatible with democratic values.Less
Arash Davari’s essay examines the representation of contemporary social movements in popular culture and media, tracing the recent global shift from centralized models of self-governance to more collective forms that better align with modern democratic ideals. Black political culture is undergoing the same shift, rejecting the old form of male charismatic leadership. Davari questions whether this is the most effective strategy of achieving a democratic future oriented toward racial justice and radical democracy, and turns to the early writings of W. E. B. Du Bois as a model for better representation and articulation of social change. Du Bois’s early writings are reflections on social change for racial justice, and they affirm the idea that power cannot be eliminated, only reconstituted in ways that are compatible with democratic values.
Vijay Phulwani
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780813174907
- eISBN:
- 9780813174914
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813174907.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
In this essay, Vijay Phulwani posits that Du Bois uses the language of tragedy in 1935’s Black Reconstruction in America to emphasize the constraints and limitations created by white supremacy and ...
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In this essay, Vijay Phulwani posits that Du Bois uses the language of tragedy in 1935’s Black Reconstruction in America to emphasize the constraints and limitations created by white supremacy and subvert the tragic legend of Reconstruction. Informed by his changing understanding of the role of slaves and freedmen in the Civil War and Reconstruction, Du Bois’s ideas moved from an emphasis on internal racial uplift and external political agitation to a theory of economic separatism and a strategic embrace of segregation. Du Bois returned to the subject of Reconstruction many times throughout his career, using it to rethink and further develop his ideas about the form and content of black politics. Phulwani argues that by continuing to analyze Reconstruction, Du Bois was able to simultaneously narrate its history and model alternative strategies for building black political and economic power.Less
In this essay, Vijay Phulwani posits that Du Bois uses the language of tragedy in 1935’s Black Reconstruction in America to emphasize the constraints and limitations created by white supremacy and subvert the tragic legend of Reconstruction. Informed by his changing understanding of the role of slaves and freedmen in the Civil War and Reconstruction, Du Bois’s ideas moved from an emphasis on internal racial uplift and external political agitation to a theory of economic separatism and a strategic embrace of segregation. Du Bois returned to the subject of Reconstruction many times throughout his career, using it to rethink and further develop his ideas about the form and content of black politics. Phulwani argues that by continuing to analyze Reconstruction, Du Bois was able to simultaneously narrate its history and model alternative strategies for building black political and economic power.
Nahum Dimitri Chandler
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823254064
- eISBN:
- 9780823261239
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823254064.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, American Philosophy
Through the privileged example of W. E. B. Du Bois’ s 1940 text Dusk of Dawn: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept, this chapter shows how a critical autobiographical practice might ...
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Through the privileged example of W. E. B. Du Bois’ s 1940 text Dusk of Dawn: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept, this chapter shows how a critical autobiographical practice might sustain a self-reflexive theoretical account of the grounds of practices of self-identification. It poses the question of the limits of the reception of Du Bois’ s thought among major contemporary theorists. And, it proposes that Du Bois’ s critical account of the problem of identification - one can neither leave it nor keep it - from his turn of the century formulation of “double-consciousness” to his mid-century account, should be generalized to address questions of identity in general in America and across the modern era. Work by Edmund Husserl, Ralph Ellison, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Hortense Spillers, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak are addressed in the course of this exploration.Less
Through the privileged example of W. E. B. Du Bois’ s 1940 text Dusk of Dawn: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept, this chapter shows how a critical autobiographical practice might sustain a self-reflexive theoretical account of the grounds of practices of self-identification. It poses the question of the limits of the reception of Du Bois’ s thought among major contemporary theorists. And, it proposes that Du Bois’ s critical account of the problem of identification - one can neither leave it nor keep it - from his turn of the century formulation of “double-consciousness” to his mid-century account, should be generalized to address questions of identity in general in America and across the modern era. Work by Edmund Husserl, Ralph Ellison, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Hortense Spillers, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak are addressed in the course of this exploration.
James T. Campbell
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199845392
- eISBN:
- 9780199365104
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199845392.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century, Political History
This chapter explores the rise and fall of the Pan-African Congress, investigating its significance in the life and thought of its architect, W.E.B. Du Bois, as well as in the broader history of ...
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This chapter explores the rise and fall of the Pan-African Congress, investigating its significance in the life and thought of its architect, W.E.B. Du Bois, as well as in the broader history of African and African American politics. The essay offers a fresh perspective on the so-called “Wilsonian Moment” in international relations, the yeasty interlude of 1918–19 when the United States attempted to rewrite the rule book of global politics and dispossessed Americans joined with overseas allies in a variety of idealistic efforts to promote democracy and end imperialism. These ambitions, and their frustration, Campbell explains, exerted lasting impact on Americans’ relationships with what would eventually be called the developing world.Less
This chapter explores the rise and fall of the Pan-African Congress, investigating its significance in the life and thought of its architect, W.E.B. Du Bois, as well as in the broader history of African and African American politics. The essay offers a fresh perspective on the so-called “Wilsonian Moment” in international relations, the yeasty interlude of 1918–19 when the United States attempted to rewrite the rule book of global politics and dispossessed Americans joined with overseas allies in a variety of idealistic efforts to promote democracy and end imperialism. These ambitions, and their frustration, Campbell explains, exerted lasting impact on Americans’ relationships with what would eventually be called the developing world.
R. Blakeslee Gilpin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807835012
- eISBN:
- 9781469602608
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807869277_gilpin.9
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter discusses W. E. B. Du Bois's closing speech at the Harpers Ferry Niagara convention in August 1906. Du Bois's remarks articulated the goals of his fledgling organization and its intense ...
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This chapter discusses W. E. B. Du Bois's closing speech at the Harpers Ferry Niagara convention in August 1906. Du Bois's remarks articulated the goals of his fledgling organization and its intense connections to John Brown. We “believe in John Brown,” Du Bois told the Niagara attendees, “in that incarnate spirit of justice, that hatred of a lie, that willingness to sacrifice money, reputation, and life itself on the altar of right. And here on the scene of John Brown's martyrdom, we reconsecrate ourselves, our honor, our property to the final emancipation of the race which John Brown died to make free.” As he would do on numerous occasions, Du Bois used John Brown to engage the past as a means to make sense of the present and put forth plans for the future.Less
This chapter discusses W. E. B. Du Bois's closing speech at the Harpers Ferry Niagara convention in August 1906. Du Bois's remarks articulated the goals of his fledgling organization and its intense connections to John Brown. We “believe in John Brown,” Du Bois told the Niagara attendees, “in that incarnate spirit of justice, that hatred of a lie, that willingness to sacrifice money, reputation, and life itself on the altar of right. And here on the scene of John Brown's martyrdom, we reconsecrate ourselves, our honor, our property to the final emancipation of the race which John Brown died to make free.” As he would do on numerous occasions, Du Bois used John Brown to engage the past as a means to make sense of the present and put forth plans for the future.
Daniel Hack
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691196930
- eISBN:
- 9781400883745
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691196930.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, African-American Literature
This chapter turns to W. E. B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk and its deployment of nineteenth-century British literature. Du Bois himself tends to attract the adjective “Victorian” as a ...
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This chapter turns to W. E. B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk and its deployment of nineteenth-century British literature. Du Bois himself tends to attract the adjective “Victorian” as a descriptor—of his intellectual formation, his prose style, his aesthetic, his morality—with greater frequency than virtually any other figure in the African American literary and intellectual tradition. The chapter shows that critics have been too quick to generalize about the presence of nineteenth-century British literature in Souls. They have rarely asked why Du Bois selected the specific authors, texts, and passages he cites or how these citations contribute to and intervene in a tradition of African American citation and intertextuality. Addressing these questions not only nuances our understanding of Du Bois's rhetorical strategy but also leads us to reconsider a seemingly settled question in the scholarship on Souls: the role Du Bois assigns culture in the fight for racial equality.Less
This chapter turns to W. E. B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk and its deployment of nineteenth-century British literature. Du Bois himself tends to attract the adjective “Victorian” as a descriptor—of his intellectual formation, his prose style, his aesthetic, his morality—with greater frequency than virtually any other figure in the African American literary and intellectual tradition. The chapter shows that critics have been too quick to generalize about the presence of nineteenth-century British literature in Souls. They have rarely asked why Du Bois selected the specific authors, texts, and passages he cites or how these citations contribute to and intervene in a tradition of African American citation and intertextuality. Addressing these questions not only nuances our understanding of Du Bois's rhetorical strategy but also leads us to reconsider a seemingly settled question in the scholarship on Souls: the role Du Bois assigns culture in the fight for racial equality.
Jonathon S. Kahn
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195307894
- eISBN:
- 9780199867516
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307894.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Against the normative view of W. E. B. Du Bois as hostile to and uninterested in religion, this book argues that religion furnishes Du Bois writings with their distinctive moral vocabulary. Du Bois's ...
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Against the normative view of W. E. B. Du Bois as hostile to and uninterested in religion, this book argues that religion furnishes Du Bois writings with their distinctive moral vocabulary. Du Bois's work is a rich world of sermonic essays, jeremiads, biblical rhetoric, and prayers all of which are devoted to the overarching goal of fighting for the spiritual, political, and social conditions of those who “live within the Veil.” This book argues that Du Bois fashions his religious voice from two sources: African American religion and American pragmatism. Du Bois's religious voice draws on the natural piety of the slave spirituals, the protestations of the African American jeremiad, the language of sacrifice, and the preacher's facility with biblical rhetoric. From the American pragmatists, Du Bois finds a heterodox religious register that shuns metaphysical and supernatural realities for an earthly form of salvation rooted in human relations. By using pragmatist tools to embrace African American religious resources without their normative metaphysical commitments, Du Bois creates a new black faith: a radical version of pragmatic religious naturalism. This account of Du Bois's religious voice frees us from shoehorning Du Bois into ready-made Christian constructions; his religious heterodoxy runs too deep and throughout his life he chafed against the label, “Christian.” It allows us to imagine Du Bois as practicing what might be understood as an original black American faith—one that pays homage to African American Christian pasts, but radically reconfigures them for a democratic and ecumenical future.Less
Against the normative view of W. E. B. Du Bois as hostile to and uninterested in religion, this book argues that religion furnishes Du Bois writings with their distinctive moral vocabulary. Du Bois's work is a rich world of sermonic essays, jeremiads, biblical rhetoric, and prayers all of which are devoted to the overarching goal of fighting for the spiritual, political, and social conditions of those who “live within the Veil.” This book argues that Du Bois fashions his religious voice from two sources: African American religion and American pragmatism. Du Bois's religious voice draws on the natural piety of the slave spirituals, the protestations of the African American jeremiad, the language of sacrifice, and the preacher's facility with biblical rhetoric. From the American pragmatists, Du Bois finds a heterodox religious register that shuns metaphysical and supernatural realities for an earthly form of salvation rooted in human relations. By using pragmatist tools to embrace African American religious resources without their normative metaphysical commitments, Du Bois creates a new black faith: a radical version of pragmatic religious naturalism. This account of Du Bois's religious voice frees us from shoehorning Du Bois into ready-made Christian constructions; his religious heterodoxy runs too deep and throughout his life he chafed against the label, “Christian.” It allows us to imagine Du Bois as practicing what might be understood as an original black American faith—one that pays homage to African American Christian pasts, but radically reconfigures them for a democratic and ecumenical future.
