Du Bois - summary notes incl readings PDF

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The Souls of Black Folk [sparknotes]  Chapter 1 and 2 deal with the history and immediate impact of Emancipation using historical examples and Du Bois’s own experience  Chapter 3 discusses the formation and responsibility of black leadership - while criticising Booker T Washington [on an academic level]  Du Bois also describes the Atlanta Compromise and the limitation it has placed on black society in the South.  Chapter 4 through chapter 7 talks about the need for progress and how it is blocked by the lack of education and opportunity. He emphasises that the current systems produce mostly labourers and therefore there is little room for black upward mobility → especially in the South due to a lack of education  Chapter 8 and 9 Du Bois talks about his visit to Dougherty County in rural Georgia. There he experienced first-hand the contrasted upbringings compared to his New England Childhood → this conveyed that there was a greater disparity in the South and that many blacks in the South are not fully aware of this.  Chapter 6 and 7 he also draws on the analogies to mythology to better explain the upbringing of black men he witnesses.  In chapter 10 he analyses the religion of the black South.  Chapter 11 through to chapter 13 he offers narrative examples of individuals Du Bois has encountered and events from his own life that illustrate the disparity between the white and black society.  He discusses the death of his son, pays tribute to a world-travelling preacher who remained undiscouraged and recalls a student who had great potential but was a victim of his circumstances.  Chapter 14 consisted of several selections of “sorrow songs” that Du Bois describes as the “spiritual heritage of the nation.” he states that the songs have been handed down - many from before slavery and how they have become interconnected with religion and are still a centerpiece in black society.

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Throughout the text - Du Bois uses historical facts and narrative examples to convey how slavery and post-slavery effects have impacted and shaped both the black and white society in the South. He conveys the causes and effect relationship and applies sociological analysis to them. The significant problem Du Bois discusses is the shortage of resources and opportunity for black people at the beginning of the 20th century. He highlights the effects of disparities in education and privilege and demonstrates the need for change.

Chapter 1 → Of Our Spiritual Strivings  When Du Bois was a student, he tried exchanging cards with a girl who refused them. It was then he realised he was “different from the others [...] shut out from their world by a vast veil” → the concept of veil emerges  He had “no desire to tear down” the veil but to overcome it and go beyond it  African-Americans are born with a veil - “a world which yields him no true selfconsciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world”  “Double consciousness” → a sense of looking/ understanding yourself through the eyes of another being  Two of everything → American and black

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An African American - an internal struggle with their identity. On the one hand, he does not want his african attributes to be lost but on the other hand he does not want to africanise his american attributes. “To merge his double self into a better and truer self” ^ they just want to make it possible to be a black person and an american → without having the doors of opportunity be closed on them. The double aimed struggle of a black man The paradox → black people have to be more skillful than white people [“two-told tale”] Seeking to satisfy both aims → considered a waste 40 years after liberty “the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land” Through emancipation, he gains self-consciousness, self-realisation and self-respect. Sees himself as darkly through the veil but also recognises the power of his mission.

[sparknotes] SUMMARY of chapter 1  There is an unasked question among black people  The concept of being a problem  The first time he noticed that he was different - when a classmate refused a card from him.  He described it has being “shut out from their world by a vast veil” and that he had no desire to tear down or pass through the veil - but instead he held everyone on one side [the white society] in contempt and live “above it in a region of blue sky and great wandering shadows”  His contempt fades as the years go on - when the white students have opportunities that he does not.  Du Bois states that the other black students [affected by the differences] either become flattering and subservient to the white society or develop hatred for it.  He metaphorically describes how the black students are imprisoned by white society.  “Double Consciousness” → black people will always look at themselves from the perspective of white society.  Also discusses the challenges that black individuals face working under “double aims” → trying to appease the white society and escaping white contempt while trying to stay true to their own people.  After emancipation → the black society attained progress through voting rights and education.  The end of slavery did not solve many of the problems and prejudices.  In fact after 40 years “the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land”  Du Bois states that education “changed the child of Emancipation to the youth with dawning self-consciousness, self-realisation, self-respect”  Education helped the black community to reshape how they looked at themselves and helped understand how to tackle all the obstacles they face e.g. financial disparity with white society, an overall lack of education and skill and prejudice.  Du Bois ends the chapter with a solution.  He states that the black society must develop “not in opposition to contempt for other races, but in large conformity to the greater ideals of the American Republic”.  He states that many aspects of American culture, from music to folklore are heavily influenced by black society.  He argues that the best solution is not to adapt to American ideals but to also influence the ideas of America so that they include and reflect those of black society. Chapter 2 → Of the Dawn of Freedom  According to Du Bois - the problem of the 20th century is the “colour-line” → “the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea”

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^ this problem partially cause the Civil War → “slavery was the real cause of the conflict” The Emancipation Proclamation seemed to broaden and intensify the difficulties and the War Amendments are the problems of black people Fremont [Missouri] declared the slaves free under martial law but this was changed once he was succeeded by Halleck who stated “no slaves should be allowed to come into your lines at all; if any come without your knowledge, when owners call for them deliver them.” Slaves are considered to be a source of power and strength to the Confederacy → for the contribution to labour and production. Congress complicated matters - be considering the fugitive as military labourers. Pierce of Boston - Port Royal experiment - making free workingmen out of slaves. The lack of progress and education in the South constituted as a national crisis

[sparknotes]  Du Bois states that the “problem of the colour line” is THE problem of the 20th century.  He claims that the Civil War was primarily fought over slavery → despite the President and Congress stating otherwise  He identifies the different procedures for handling escaped slaves depending on the state or region where they were recaptured as a central issue during the war.  Edward Pierce [of Boston] was tasked to study the conditions of the slave refugees.  Pierce started an experiment to convert slaves to “free workingmen” → but more had to be done to find productive work for the growing number of refugee slaves.  The solution was to enlist those refugees who were able to go into the military  Freedman’s Aid societies o American Missionary Association o National Freedmen’s Relief Association o American Freedmen’s Union o Western Freedman Aid Commission

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“all fifty or more active organisations, which sent clothes, money, school-books, and teachers southward” Du Bois states that their work was needed since the condition of the freedmen were terrible and getting worse. Creation of the labour force out of the freedman was not working since many did nothing and those who did work - the pay was not guaranteed. The solution was to open confiscated estates and employ a vast amount of freedmen determining payroll and build schools → “strange little government” [all this was built within large communities] Sherman’s raid through Georgia → which ended with tens of thousands of freedmen being granted land to work under “Field-order Number Fifteen” The legislation that leased land to freedmen under the Treasury Department was a relief to the military effort - since the same year the army was given control again. There were several more attempts - but all failed. 1865 “Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands” ^ were able to issue rations and clothing, lease and sell 40 acre parcels to ex-slaves. “[t]hus did the United States government definitely assume charge of the emancipated Negro as the ward of the nation” The wellbeing of freedmen became a national concern - oppose to a crisis as it were during the Civil War Oliver Howard - assigned as Commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau → he found that a large amount of corruption had appeared “under the guise of helping the

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freedman, and all enshrined in the smoke and blood of the war and the cursing and silence of angry men”. Howard installed commissioners in each of the seceded states that were entirely in charge of the issuing of rations, ensuring that freedmen were able to choose their employers and establish schools, the institution of marriage and record keeping. The Bureau encountered two major problems: 1. The inability to establish confiscated lands in the South for freedmen 2. The challenge in actually applying all of the systems established by the Bureau → since it was hard to find qualified individuals. “thus, after a year’s work, vigorously as it was pushed, the problem looked even more difficult to grasp and solve than at the beginning” 1866 Congress voted to maintain and enlarge the Freedmen’s Bureau - but President Johnson vetoed it as unconstitutional. July 16 - a modified bill was passed - the Freedmen’s Bureau in its final form Du Bois continues by discussing the extremely difficult task that the Freedmen's Bureau had and the unsettled racism that perpetuated in the South. He admits that the Bureau was doomed from the start. The FB was unable to deliver on the promise of “40 acres and a mule” However the greatest success of the FB was “in the planning of free school among Negroes, and the idea of free elementary education among all classes of the South” The greatest failure of the FB was the separate judicial system. Du Bois contends that the FB was as successful as it could be - considering the circumstances and obstacles → yet it’s blamed for every mistake and evil at the time. Eventually the government wanted to stop regarding freedmen as a burden - but instead empower them with the right to vote. “Negro suffrage ended the civil war by beginning a race feud” The FB no longer existed Du Bois argues that even with the right to vote, many blacks in the South were still not free, due to segregation, unfair judicial practices, economic instability and restricted privileges.

Chapter 6 → Of the Training of Black Men [sparknotes]  Du Bois continues to emphasise the need for education.  He states that education should be used to improve the quality of lives and it should be available for everyone.  “Training for life teaching living; but what training for the profitable living together of black men and white?”  He also discusses the hasty establishment of schools, from elementary schools to universities, against the industrial revolution of the South.  Du Bois questions the merits of the “industrial school” as it turns people into material resources.  He points out segregation → makes training between groups impossible but the cooperation of different groups of people is necessary for progress.  He states that many of the higher education institutions in the black South are not all of the same quality.  Due to the new education → the students at such institutions are less prepared.  He highlights the success of black college graduates, who have become effective teachers and community leaders.  He reiterates that higher education is the path to social change and racial cooperation. Chapter 9 → Of the Sons of Master and Man

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Talks about the imperial expansion of Europe and the destructive impact it has had on the less developed groups of people around the world. He claims that in the future, humans should strive to support “the good, the beautiful and the true” and not “continue to put a premium on greed and impudence and cruelty” Also suggests that the racial division in the South should be studied to better understand future clashes between races. Emphasises that several aspects of Southern society are parts of racial communications. 1. Describes how physical segregation forces each race to regularly see the worse in one another. 2. Describes the exploitative economic system of the South. Compare it with the labour unions and commercial laws of the North and of Europe and states that both white and black labourers suffer as a result of it. Du Bois expresses “political activity” as the third form of contact between the races and classes of the South Due to post-war corruption, fraud and force → Southern black voters quickly became disenfranchised with politics → “with the idea that politics was a method of private gain by disreputable means” Talks about further elements of government that discourage black participation. Southern blacks had little control over the law, enforcement of those laws, taxation, and even how tax funds would be spent. “How sorely in need of such economic and spiritual guidance the emanicipated Negro was” but also highlights that “representatives of the best white Southern public opinion” were not those in charge. Also states that under such exploitative and abusive systems - there would inevitably be a rise in black crime - which would then only confirm the racist expectations of the white South. He explains that instead of focusing on education as a means to prevent crime - the response was instead greater punishment and an increasingly biased legal system. “There is almost no community of intellectual life or point of transference where the thoughts and feelings of one race can come into direct contact and sympathy with the thoughts and feelings of the other”. As a result of lack of open communication - both sides remain antagonistic - the belief in stereotypes is reinforced and there is no progress made. For a successful future - he states that both sides need to “see and appreciate and sympathise with each other’s position.”...