William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963)

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that W. E. B. Du Bois did not suffer economically and had not endured the severe racism most African-Americans, especially in the South, until he went to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he saw his first lynching. The author points out that Du Bois denounced Booker T. Washington's philosophy of "separate and unequal" because Du Bois saw Washington's ideas on accommodating and compromising with whites as denying citizenship rights for African-Americans. The paper relates that Du Bois struggle with the American government because of his purported activities as a communist; in 1961, Du Bois left the United States and moved to the newly independent West African nation of Ghana; however, before he left the U.S., he openly defied the U.S. government and joined the American Communist Party.

From the Paper:

"The Niagara Movement had little impact on opinions in America, but it had a lot to do with the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). A group opposed to Booker T. Washington's ideas met in New York City in 1909 to "discuss the formation of a new organization dedicated to improving conditions for Blacks in the United States." The ensuing group was mostly white; despite this, Du Bois was elected as one of the founding officers in 1910."

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