“The significance of slavery in the United States to the whole social development of America lay in the ultimate relation of slaves to democracy. What were to be the limits of democratic control in the United States? if all labor, black as well as white, became free were given schools and the right to vote, what control could or should be set to the power and action of those laborers? was the rule of the mass of Americans to be unlimited, and the right to rule extended to all men regardless of race and color, or if not, what power of dictatorship and control; and how would privilege be protected? This was the great and primary question which was in the minds of the men who wrote the constitution of the United States and continued in the minds of thinkers down through the slavery controversy. It still remains with the world as the problem of democracy expands and touches all races and nations”. (Black Reconstruction, W.E. B. Du Bois)

Never would I have thought that in 2016 I would be trying to educate my peers on the same issues that Du Bois wrote about in Black reconstruction and The Souls of Black Folk. Being a young black woman in College, in 2016, is quite the achievement in the eyes of many, but from my point of view its what I’m supposed to be doing. I never thought about the significance of this until reading The Souls of Black Folk by W.E. B. Du Bois. He made a point to explain the constant struggle faced by Americans during and after slavery. The question posed by Du Bois was “how does it feel to be a problem?” this made me think, as I remember talking about the obvious injustices that are currently happening, or at least to me they are, when many of my peers reacted to my frustration in a way where this made sense. I have been asked questions such as “why is this still relevant?”, “I don’t see color, this is not a black and white thing?”, “why are you mad?” and “slavery ended along time ago why does it matter?”.

According to history, this is extremely relevant to understanding why there are many people advocating for the #blacklivesmatter campaign and addressing police brutality towards minorities. The fact that African Americans have to face the brutal history of being uprooted from their native land and taken to an unknown one, to then be converted into being recognized as less than a human, simplifies the relevance of slavery and American History. It is important to understand the role that the “negro” had in society during the times of slavery and after, Du Bois noted that “what need of eduction, since we must always cook and serve?” and the nation echoed and enforced this self criticism, saying: be content to be servants, and nothing more; what need of higher culture for halfmen?”(The Soul of Black Folk). Therefore by dismissing the significance of an historical event, is another way of not facing the brutal and factual past that many people suffered.

Du Bois mentioned in Black Reconstruction that, “the system of slavery demanded a special police force and such a force was made possible and unusually effective by the presence of the poor whites”, this a key factor in understanding that blacks in the United States in that day an age was considered to be less of a person than even poor whites who were in the same economical category. Also, they were used as the force to reinstate that sad truth. Looking at certain instances of Police Brutality, this is reminiscing of this concept, being that a person of color has to behave a certain way around the police in order to not loose their life or face harsh physical punishment.

Surprisingly, in today’s society many schools do not give a well rounded and accurate depiction of African American History, including slavery in the United States. The propaganda of history is part of the reason why many students have fallen into ignorance about the facts of slavery. Many textbooks in the past inserted historical ‘facts’ explaining the reconstruction period of the United States after the civil war that created the mentality that blacks were responsible for their own misfortune. For example, “some negroes spent their money foolishly, and were worse off than they had been before. (Carl Russell Fish, “History of America”, p. 365.)” and “In the exhausted states already amply ‘punished’ by the desolation of war, the rule of the Negro and his unscrupulous carpetbagger and scalawag patrons, was an orgy of extravagance, fraud and disgusting incompetency. (David Saville Muzzey, “History of the American People”, p. 408.)”. This type of rhetoric is what clouds peoples understanding of the relevance of addressing this important piece of history in the American society. The constant fight of refuting these claims was and still is relevant today, especially for those who fail to understand the importance of facing the uncomfortable truths about past history.

“Lo! We are diseased and dying, cried the dark hosts; we cannot write, our writing is in vain; what need of education, since we must always cook and serve? And the nation echoed and enforced this self-criticism, saying: Be content to be servants, and nothing more; what need of higher culture for half-men? (W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk)

In a world that demands nothing less of excellence from all of its inhabitants, and yet condemns education and innovation from within the black community. How are we to grow as a community, and strive for greatness when we are consistently being seen as nothing more than ‘hired help’? This narrative is still very much prevalent today, this idea that we shouldn’t strive for better, and that we should just settle for the roles assigned to us, by a society, not made for us.

In the Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B Du Bois begins every chapter  with a song, a negro spiritual if you will. This sets the tone for the chapter and gives a little peak into to the ‘inter-workings’ of the black community.  Slavery is a very uncomfortable topic for most people, and whenever the topic of slavery is brought up in conversation, others are quick to dismiss or justify the injustices done, without taking the time to listen. Each song gives the reader a taste of what is to come without ‘overwhelming’ them with facts. W.E.B. Du Bois begins with the question “How does it feel to be a problem?”, and goes on to tell us that being a ‘negro’ in America is synonymous with having little to no rights or respect. And although things have evolved since then, mostly for the better, I do not think this has changed very much. Du Bois introduces this idea of a double-consciousness, and talks about how young black children have to develop this at such a young age. He also talks about how blacks often had to work twice as hard and be twice as educated just to receive not even half the respect. And, although this is not a new concept, it is very problematic, newly freed slaves believed that they were owed ‘carefree lives’. Suffice to say this was not the case, after being freed many slaves were arrested for thieving. And although all of this is true, W.E.B Du Bois discusses the fact that history makes it seem as if slavery was unwillingly thrust upon America, and as if the south was completely blameless.

After this we take a shift to the civil rights march, arguably one of the most famous and influential social justice movement in American history. Today there are so many different movements (ex. movements in support of minority groups in America), and so many different groups of people seeking the rights and justices that they have been denied for so long. Actively being a part of and supporting one social movement is a huge commitment, but what if you belong to more than one of these minority groups? Many times people are forced to choose which movement (ex. black rights vs. feminism) is most important. Angela Davis discussed the importance of understanding the intersections and connections between the many different movements in occurrence. I believe that this thought, will be key in the coming years as many different movements begin to evolve and gain traction.

“When I was seventeen, I secured a job in the factory and discovered that blacks tended to be restricted to manual labor while whites filled managerial positions. That setting was reminiscent of Mississippi cotton fields where blacks labored and whites supervised. I became aware that racism did not stem merely from the hate of mean white segregationists but rather was a national phenomenon (Aldon D. Morris, The Scholar Denied).”

In the 1900’s anybody who was not a hetero-sexual, Christian, white male, was seen as deviant. One of the worst things to have been was black. In The Scholar Denied, Aldon Morris explores his upbringing in such an environment.

Growing up in the 1950’s, Morris tells us about his experience with the Jim Crow Laws, the times from the brutal murder of Emmitt Till, the Civil Rights movement, and how both the black community and society as a whole was impacted by such events. Within all this racially charged phenomena, Morris analyzed his lifetime from a sociological standpoint, making W.E.B Du Bois his sociological compass, and making a case for why Du Bois’ work should be more highly recognized in Sociology.

Morris reminds us that from Du Bois we get an ironic situation of  The what we now call a Black Scholar. The irony stems from the fact that the image of a black man during Morris’ time was that of low prestige, limited or no education, and violent or criminal tendencies. However, Du Bois broke away from this stigma to challenge social studies head on from a “black radical” standpoint. Morris also got his chance to become his own idea of a Black Scholar from being exposed to Du Bois’ work.

Morris explains his experience in college, having a background which told him college would not be an option. He came from a family of people who valued education so primely, but never had the opportunity to grasp it for themselves, so Morris pursued higher education. Personally, having a background such as Morris’ has motivated me that much more. During his time in school, he learned about W.E.B Du Bois, and his impact on sociology. This forces Morris to question why Du Bois’ contribution is not acknowledged as much as it should be.

From Du Bois, we learn about race in sociology more than his predecessors cared to talk about. According to Morris, from Du Bois also came the first school of scientific sociology. However, because of the color of his skin, Du Bois gets denied the earned right of being acknowledged for his direct contribution to the science. As a sociology major, I think it is unfair. A lot of the ideas we study in the science are accredited to Karl Marx. However, most of it was also covered in Du Bois’ work as well. Du Bois wrote about class and power struggle, constantly eluding to the idea of how the struggling class (black people) can gain status in society. As a black scholar himself, many can say he was a great leader in the wave of what we label as  “Black Excellence,” which is now paving the way for further scholars such as Morris and myself to educate ourselves and to educate others to come.

“While I am a product of the poor black working class, whose members labored in factories, stockyards, construction sites, and the kitchens of the well-to-do, the value of education was always supreme”. (Aldon D. Morris, The Scholar Denied: W.E.B Du Bois and the birth of Modern Sociology)

In a society that is faced by the constant struggles of inequality, discrimination, ignorance and racism, education seems to be at the forefront of the marginalized mind. History is a testament to understanding the importance of the “black scholar” within an educational system dominated by the privileged group. Aldon D. Morris took note of this concept when he discovered the works of W.E.B. Du Bois in the world of sociology. Being educated in a time period where the color of your skin determined how you were treated in society, gave a sense of empowerment to a young Morris who battled with the obvious caste system that constantly reminded him of his position as the “inferior”. According to Morris, “caste, peonage debt, and racial violence became an enduring emotional and intellectual obsession that I sought to understand from a young age”. Du Bois’s intellectual contributions to building the “black scholar”, created a movement that contradicted the rhetoric that was fed to Morris, that the black mind was not capable of comprehending the same concepts as the “superior” mind.

For years Du Bois’s contribution to sociological methodologies was ignored by white sociologist because his work included History, Anthropology, Political Science, Economics and the Humanities. Du Bois suggested that, “authentic social science was possible and that the inferior and superior races did not exist”. One can note why this was undermined in the early days of sociology, because in order to address that there is such a thing as racial inequality and racism, then they would have to admit to its existence. this is much like what we are dealing with in present day, United states.

The role of the black scholar in today’s society is represented in different forms and intellectual levels. Recent injustices against the African American community has birthed the syllabus movement, creating specific outlets for people to contribute to educating the masses on the #BlackLivesMatter movement and different events such as Ferguson. These syllabi’s create a dialogue for people to read, understand and address matters that may not draw their interest because they do not connect to them in the same way as I would. Ignorance seems to be a common trend among the population who are not affected by the events that society is facing. This will continue if we continue to lose interest in educating ourselves on the “elephant in the room” or as Albert Einstein puts it, “somebody who only reads newspapers and at best books of contemporary authors looks to me like an extremely nearsighted person who scorns eye glasses. He is completely dependent on the prejudices and fashions of his times, since he never gets to see or hear anything else”.  

We are three students–Kitty, Dantaé, and Donte–and a professor–Dr. Rosenthal–doing an independent study on the topic of “Black Radical Thought from W.E.B. Du Bois to #BlackLivesMatter.” Each week we will be reading and discussing books, articles, and essays written by black scholars and black activists, ranging from the nineteenth century to the present. We will be collectively blogging here, too, at least twice a week, in response to readings and group discussions. We will also be planning events on campus later this semester to get people thinking and talking about #blacklivesmatter. Stay tuned.