As we discussed the three main schools of thought into which we can categorize analysis of race, I found myself wondering where Du Bois would have placed himself \u2013 and where we might retrospectively\u00a0place him.<\/p>\n
Du Bois is firmly realistic \u2013 albeit judgmental \u2013 about the state of black America as he finds it. Throughout\u00a0The Philadelphia Negro<\/em> and his other works, he focuses on\u00a0black history as one of enslavement and oppression, and emphasizes the role that persistent discrimination still has on\u00a0the black community. He notes that black occupations differ from white ones and have meaningful effects on income for black workers; he also writes\u00a0that a significant number of black Philadelphians face poverty despite lack of involvement in “gross immorality or crime.” Du Bois also acknowledges that racial disparities cannot simply be overcome with industrial education and economic success; black America’s culture differs from white America’s, and barriers to political equality beyond income gaps remain at play. For this reason, it is unlikely that he would have subscribed to Nathan Glazer’s theory of the “American ethnic pattern” had he been alive to consider it; for black America, the United States has never been a nation of individuals open to inclusion without politically distinct ethnic groups, and blacks have repeatedly been expected to surrender their culture and assimilate to white bourgeois values of “respectability,” as even Du Bois suggests they should. Clearly, Du Bois does not have unlimited faith in the American creed of multipluralism.<\/p>\n But did Du Bois believe that racism is inexorable, a flaw permanently woven into the fabric of America? Probably not. In his recommendations for blacks and whites for addressing\u00a0the problem, he suggests that white America maintain high\u00a0standards, but stop holding blacks back. If the barriers that have prevented black progress are removed, he implies, there is hope for full equality. He believes that the two races should work side by side to realize “the ideals of the republic” and “make this truly a land of equal opportunity.” Perhaps, like Roger Smith, Du Bois saw two traditions in America, and felt that the tradition built on racism and exclusion was meaningful, but not without its expiration date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As we discussed the three main schools of thought into which we can categorize analysis of race, I found myself wondering where Du Bois would have placed himself \u2013 and where we might retrospectively\u00a0place him. Du Bois is firmly realistic \u2013 albeit judgmental \u2013 about the state of black America as he finds it. Throughout\u00a0The … Continue reading Du Bois and the schools of thought on race<\/span>