Compare And Contrast Du Bois And W. E. B. Dubois

Colonialism /kəˈlōnēəˌlizəm/ is the policy or practicing of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically. Colonization dehumanizes both the colonized and colonizer and becomes a means of “civilizing” the colonized as a justification for colonization. Former Pan-Africanist, W.E.B. Du Bois and Walter Rodney are important figures to analyze when discussing colonialism. Even though both men had different perspectives of colonialism, their ideas work hand and hand. Rodney looked at colonialism from an economic standpoint and believed colonialization made African persons invisible, and stripped them of civilization which eventually cause the underdevelopment that exist

He believed colonialism exploited the labor of indigenous people, specifically people of color to profit in capitalistic economic systems. Du Bois once said, “The problem with the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.” He thought the triple heritage of Latino-Native Americans, Africans and Europeans—and the role of white racism caused a division between the people and resulted in the color line of economic freedom, political self-rule and equality. Du Bois thought that the construction of the concept of race became in the world’s thought synonymous with inferiority. He also said race became a designation of devaluation, degradation and domination. To alleviate the division of race, Du Bois focused toward the idea of a capitalist economy. He believed Black liberation could be attained in a capitalistic system because the white worker turned out to be the enemy of the black worker under capitalism and that seemed to distinguish hope for capitalist. Black liberation would require “a wholesale emancipation from the grip of the white exploiters without” rather than from “an internal readjustment and ousting of [their] exploiters.” Despite his idea, the only way for capitalism to truly work, Du Bois believed racism would have to be completely eliminated. Similar to Du

As aggressive and influential Garvey was, one would believe his perspective would succeed if it was realistic. Garvey had a problem with Walter Rodney’s idea of Marxism because in that system, Africa would still have to share resources with Europeans. Garvey was all for building a capitalistic empire for Africa. Garvey said, “Wake up Ethiopia! Wake up Africa! Let us work towards the one glorious end of a free, redeemed and mighty nation. Let Africa be a bright start among the constellation of nations.” His goal was to create the same selfish economy Europeans created for themselves for Africa. In order to create an empire, Africans as well as African-Americans would unite in Africa to run the economy. This would create racial solidarity, economic empowerment and self-sufficiency together with institution building. Garvey’s whole idea was for the “Black to Africa Movement” would enlighten Africans of their worth and beauty. In conclusion, even though the three Pan-Africanist, Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Dubois, and Walter Rodney, wanted unity for Africa, they all stuck with their perspectives of achieving that goal. These scholarly men took colonialism and analyzed ways of recovering from it. All three men were influential to many people but one would believe their theories did not work themselves completely out due to the effects colonialism still has on people of African descent