W.E.B. Du Bois

The life of the Great Sociologist: W.E.B. Du Bois

W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the first African American sociologists. He was born in “Great Barrington, Massachusetts, on February 23, 1868” (Zuckerman). He lived till “August 27, 1963” (Zuckerman, 2002, p. 241). His full name was “William Edward Burghardt Du Bois” but he is most known as W.E.B. Du Bois (Zuckerman, 2002, p. 241).  He got married to his first wife “Nina Gomer in 1896” (Zuckerman, 2002, p. 241).  They had “a son, Burghardt (who died at three), and a daughter, Yolande” (Zuckerman, 2002, p. 241). Following “Nina’s death in 1950, he married his second wife, Shirley Graham” (Zuckerman, 2002, p. 241).  He did many experiments regarding race differences in his lifetime. He didn’t receive the great recognition of his work until present day. His experiences in life helped him develop his theories that I can explain came from his life experiences.

Bois life experiences included many things. He was the “first African American to earn a doctorate degree from Harvard” (Henslin, 2011, p. 18). After receiving his doctorate degree he “studied at the University of Berlin, where he attended lectures by Max Webber” (Henslin, 2011, p. 18). Max Webber was also a great sociologist who had a “new academic discipline of sociology” (Henslin, 2011, p. 13).  He tapped into his sociology career “in 1987” when he “moved to Atlanta University to teach sociology and do research (Henslin, 2011, p. 18). As one becomes more educated they tend to look at religion differently. Zuckerman (2002) states how, “Du Bois’s religious identity developed from that of a faithful Christian to a skeptical agnostic” (p. 241). Even though he had accomplished a lot of great things in his life he was still segregate by society because of his race. According to Henslin (2011), “When Du Bois went to national meetings of the American Sociological Society, restaurants and hotels would not allow him to eat or room with other white sociologist” (p. 18).  His outlook and studies began to be on race and gender relationships. Henslin (2011) states that, “Each year between 1896 and 1914, Du Bois published a book on relationships between African Americans and White” (p. 18). In total he “wrote over twenty books and hundreds of essays and articles throughout his life, and edited several major magazines” (Zuckerman, 2002, p. 241). His experiments helped him write his theories.

Bois used the books he wrote to explain his theories. He “wrote extensively about African American quality of life and specifically address issues impacting the African American family” (Saari, 2009, n.p.). He showed the difference of race in many areas including; “educational opportunities, limited occupational opportunities, family life, organizational participation, crime, alcoholism, housing conditions racial contact and voting rights” which all “addressed in The Philadelphia Negro” (Worthham, 2009, n.p.). During this time there weren’t many “educational opportunities” for African Americans. Since many African American didn’t go to college to further their education. They had “limited occupational opportunities.” There are only so many medium wage jobs. This lead to the “crime, alcoholism” and poor “housing conditions” that was present in African Americans because they weren’t educated. Sometime people had to steal in order to survive. They had to drunk in order to get away from the life they were living. They didn’t get high paying jobs so were able to have good “housing conditions.” These all are many “urban social problems” (Worthham, 2009, n.p.). These same ideas continued throughout his studies. These ideas can be linked to his experiences of his life.

The experience of most sociologists tends to be present in their work. This is no different for Bois. His experiences throughout his life help him write his theories. He came in contact with a lot of racial discrimination. Even though, he was a well-educated African American man. It was just the time period in which he lived in. This led him to want to explore race differences in our society. As he became more educated his views started to change. He learned about sociology by being around Webber. He went from having a religion to not having one. He wanted to further see the true difference behind race. It became more to him than just what was on the surface. The surface difference behind race is different skin color. He wanted to look deeply at what was the other differences besides skin color are. After his findings, he wrote books trying to educate African Americans. The problem was that not many African Americans could even read his work. He wanted to enlighten the African American people. If more African Americans pursed higher degrees it would have made his information change.

In conclusion, Bois experiences in life helped him develop his theories that I can explain comes from his life experiences. He took the time period he was in of racial discrimination and looked at it in a deeper way. He wanted to see more than what was on the surface. He took his foundlings and wrote books. He wanted the African American’s to better them and try to be just as equal of Caucasians as far as social standings. His work is finally getting the  recognition it always deserved.

References

Henslin, J. M. (2011). Sociology, a down-to-earth approach. (11th ed., pp. 13-18). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Saari, M. M. (2009). W.E.B. Du Bois and the Sociology of the African American Family.

Sociation Today, 7(1), 5, n.p.

Wortham, R. A. (2009). W.E.B. Du Bois and Demography: Early Explorations. Sociation Today,

7(1), 6, n.p.

Zuckerman, P. (2002). The sociology of religion of W.E.B. Du Bois (English). Sociology Of

Religion, 63(2), 239-253.