This a small biographical essay about the contributions of the early sociologist W.E.B Du Bois. The essay discusses his early life and the colleges he attended as he was growing up and becoming the influential sociologist he is known as today. Some of his works and concepts are discussed as well such as The Philadelphia Negro, Double Consciousness, and the Veil. Lastly, his impact on the world and to the study socially is mentioned.
The Life and Influence of W.E.B Dubois
Background
Born William Edward Burghardt, W.E.B Du Bois was an African American sociologist that started his life on February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Du bois was raised in a single parent household by
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With Du Bois' immense talented in literature he wrote and published the work The Philadelphia Negro in this study he interviewed thousands of African Americans living in Philadelphia and graphed how racism impacted their lives. This was accepted as one of the first scientific pieces conducted in sociology and it helped to disprove the racist theories about African Americans being inferior in American society. The findings concluded that the problem with black people was the racism and discrimination the white people forced upon them. This finding is better in explained in this quote provided by a Wikipedia article "Du Bois explained that black members of the community possessed their own internal class structure, and therefore should not be judged solely by “submerged tenth”. Likewise, “Negro problem" was ostensibly “not one problem, but rather a plexus of social problems,” and had little correlation to the black “social pathology” than to whites’ enforcement of racial discrimination and a provision of unequal opportunity." (Wikipedia 2017) In addition to creating the influential piece, The Philadelphia Negro, he also introduced several concepts, two of the most popular being The Veil and previously mentioned Double-Consciousness. The Veil is an imaginary barrier that makes white people unable to see black people as individuals on their caliber. "Du Bois argues that the Veil prevents white people from seeing black people as Americans, and from treating them as fully human. At the same time, the Veil in turn prevents black people from seeing themselves as they really are, outside of the negative vision of blackness created by racism." ( L. n.