Portrait Essay
Xavier Garcia
Mr. Vela
English-122
19 February 2013 The Soul of a Black Man
“The problem of the twentieth century is the color line.” In his groundreaking book, The Souls of Black People, W.E.B. DuBois spoke with a great candor that had not been seen before him about the social and racial issues of being an African American in American society in the twentieth century. DuBois was the first African American of his kind; An activist for civil rights, a sociologist, historian, Pan-Africanist, author, editor, he was a pioneer for equal rights of colored people during his time. DuBois was born on February twenty-three, nineteen sixty-eight in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, a mostly European American town. Fortunately, he was born in a town that allowed him to study freely with whites, and was even supported and encouraged in his academic studies. But it wasn’t until Dubois moved to Nashville, Tennessee to attend Fisk University at the age of 15 that he first encountered Jim Crow Laws. This opened up his mind to the unsheltered world around him, a world where your color made a difference. W.E.B. DuBois, acknowledged by many as the father of social science, and considered one of the most influential intellectuals in American history, was the catalyst for what became the Modern Civil Rights movement. Education was an obstacle for the African American community, but W.E.B. Dubois never let that stop him despite the times he was in. DuBois was the first African American to graduate with a doctorate after graduating from Harvard University. This was a monumentous triumph, especially considering that Harvard wouldn’t acknowledge his degree from Fisk University because it was a predominantly African American college, and DuBois wasn’t allowed on campus after 6:00 pm because of his color. Dubois’ dissertation, The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America,1638-1870, was published as number one in the Harvard Historical Series. The
Mr. Vela
English-122
19 February 2013 The Soul of a Black Man
“The problem of the twentieth century is the color line.” In his groundreaking book, The Souls of Black People, W.E.B. DuBois spoke with a great candor that had not been seen before him about the social and racial issues of being an African American in American society in the twentieth century. DuBois was the first African American of his kind; An activist for civil rights, a sociologist, historian, Pan-Africanist, author, editor, he was a pioneer for equal rights of colored people during his time. DuBois was born on February twenty-three, nineteen sixty-eight in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, a mostly European American town. Fortunately, he was born in a town that allowed him to study freely with whites, and was even supported and encouraged in his academic studies. But it wasn’t until Dubois moved to Nashville, Tennessee to attend Fisk University at the age of 15 that he first encountered Jim Crow Laws. This opened up his mind to the unsheltered world around him, a world where your color made a difference. W.E.B. DuBois, acknowledged by many as the father of social science, and considered one of the most influential intellectuals in American history, was the catalyst for what became the Modern Civil Rights movement. Education was an obstacle for the African American community, but W.E.B. Dubois never let that stop him despite the times he was in. DuBois was the first African American to graduate with a doctorate after graduating from Harvard University. This was a monumentous triumph, especially considering that Harvard wouldn’t acknowledge his degree from Fisk University because it was a predominantly African American college, and DuBois wasn’t allowed on campus after 6:00 pm because of his color. Dubois’ dissertation, The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America,1638-1870, was published as number one in the Harvard Historical Series. The