ipl-logo

Of Agency And The Failure Of Reconstruction By W. E. B. Du Bois

725 Words3 Pages

Roxi Wessel
American Political Thought
5 April 2023
Agency and the Failure of Reconstruction
W. E. B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction pushes back against the prominent historical interpretation that Black people had no agency in their lives before and throughout the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. His chapter “Back Towards Slavery” in particular illustrates how this agency, and thus Reconstruction as a whole, was thwarted by Southern efforts to diminish the political and economic power of Black people as they attempted to establish themselves as honest laborers.
Throughout Black Reconstruction, Du Bois underscores the complex relationship between economic and political affairs, especially surrounding issues of Black freedom and democracy. …show more content…

He presents common white fears of being “declassed, degraded, or actually disgraced,” as their Black compatriots were, as a major motivator of mob violence against Black people; poor whites were determined to cling to a social order in which they ranked above at least one other group (678). These displays of brutality effectively removed Black political autonomy in the South during Reconstruction. In terms of economics, white Southern efforts to keep Black people poor ensured that both classes remained indefinitely in poverty, trapped under the thumb of the planter class. The poor whites were often aware of this, but most fell victim to the “carefully planned and slowly evolved” infusion of racial theory into Southern society that had been occuring long before the Civil War, neglecting to see past the “wedge between white and black workers” that billed the groups as diametrically opposed (700). This rhetoric was so commonly accepted that “Southern white laborers [were] induced to prefer poverty to equality with the Negro” the vast majority of the time (696). Thus, Southern efforts to subvert the agency of Black people–in some cases through economic exploitation, in other cases through social and political subjugation–were widespread not only among former slave owners, but also among the poor white laboring class that would have made a natural ally to Black laborers, if not for the infestation of racism in Southern society. Du Bois blatantly claims that “the doctrine of racial separation” not only undercut Black agency, but in doing so, fully “overthrew Reconstruction” as well

Show More
Related

The American Blindspot Foner Vs Dubois

336 Words | 2 Pages

In the article of “The American Blindspot”, the main point is to show the differing interpretations of the Reconstruction era that arose between Foner and Du Bois. Du Bois poses the idea that the slaves are to be seen as humans and argues the side of the slaves whereas Foner argues from the side in which views the capitalistic side of Reconstruction. In Du Bois’s argument, he makes sure to clarify that he sees the slaveholders as owners of capital rather than just the wealthy elite. In turn, Foner describes the slaveholders as the ruling class and stays away from calling slaves the working class or proletarians. Foner places Reconstruction as a bourgeois revolution whereas Du Bois views the era as having two Reconstructions.

Read More

Summary Of Neil Foley's The White Scourge

1348 Words | 6 Pages

In _The White Scourge_, Neil Foley uses a wealth of archival materials and oral histories to illuminate the construction and reconstruction of whiteness and the connection of this whiteness to power. Focusing largely on cotton culture in central Texas, Foley 's book deconstructs whiteness through a new and detailed analysis of race, class, and gender. The most intriguing aspect of this book is its comparison of the impact of whiteness on various ethno-racial classes and how each struggled in relation to the other to develop a meaningful existence. _

Read More

Chapter Summary Of Reconstruction By W. E. Blight

1318 Words | 6 Pages

As they talk about the Reconstruction they talk on how a nation could be reconciled and come together after a bloody Civil War. It was a time of great pain, and no answer to provide for what was happening. For Southerners this deeply sadden them. W.E.B Du Bois wanted us to understand that Reconstruction era was a time to rebuild, but he understood that it left to many terrible wounds and that in the schools textbooks left the wrong message to children learning about the civil war. Along in chapter two Blights shows us that emancipationist image are kept amongst ex-slaves, it lost much of its white support and political power.

Read More

Supremacist Order After Reconstruction

526 Words | 3 Pages

Summary of the article De-centering the South De-centering the South: America 's Nationwide White Supremacist Order After Reconstruction is an article written by Desmond S. King and Stephen G. N. Tuck. It explores the deplorable state of racism in the southern states of the USA during the late 19th century and early 20th century, and the efforts of one man to fight it. One of the most prominent African-American leaders of that period was a man called Thomas Fortune. Once a slave in the South, Fortune was too aware of America’s race problem. In 1879, he left the south and moved to New York where he became an editor of several African-American newspapers.

Read More

What Are The Stereotypes In Chapter Four Of White Metropolis

527 Words | 3 Pages

In Chapter Four of White Metropolis, Phillips discusses the way white elites ensured that the black population lacked political and social standing. The elites achieved this as much by spreading rumors and reinforcing stereotypes as by passing laws that legally robbed blacks of power. The “Sambo” stereotype, which depicted blacks as childish, carefree, and happy perpetuated the impression of superiority among the whites, even in the lowest classes (77;81). When the black population had access to the same goods as the white population in Dallas—even though they still shopped from separate stores—this perceived economic equality created panic among the white community (78). This was a factor in the second wave of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s.

Read More

Analysis Of W. E. B. Dubois's Black Reconstruction In America

1591 Words | 7 Pages

African-American historian W.E.B Dubois illustrated how the Civil War brought the problems of African-American experiences into the spotlight. As a socialist, he argued against the traditional Dunning interpretations and voiced opinions about the failures and benefits of the Civil War era, which he branded as a ‘splendid failure’. The impacts of Civil War era enabled African-Americans to “form their own fraternal organizations, worship in their own churches and embrace the notion of an activist government that promoted and safeguarded the welfare of its citizens.”

Read More

W. E. B. Dubois Analysis

944 Words | 4 Pages

In the analysis of the abundance of wonderful leaders who made a difference in the African American community since emancipation, W.E.B Du Bois made a special impact to advance the world. From founding the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, to his influential book The Souls of Black Folk, he always found an accurate yet abstract way of verbalizing the strives of African Americans as well as making platforms for them to be known. Although he had less power than most of the bigger named African American leaders of his time, W.E.B Dubois’ overweighing strengths verses weaknesses, accurate and creative analogies, leadership style, and the successful foundations he stood for demonstrates his ability to be both realistic and accurate in his assessment since emancipation. Though Du Bois did have a beneficial impact

Read More

Compare And Contrast Web Du Bois And Booker T Dubois

807 Words | 4 Pages

Dr. W.E.B Du Bois uses this essay to sway the audience of the insufficiency of the statements that Mr. Booker T. Washington has made about African Americans being submissive of rights and the creation of wealth. Mr. Washington believes that the black race should give up and give into what the society norms were at that time sequentially just to have a certain right. Dr. Du Bois refused to believe that the black race should give up one right to get another right. Especially, when the white South had all rights without expecting to give up anything to have those rights.

Read More

How Did W. E. B. Dubois Impact Society

871 Words | 4 Pages

DuBois’s first post-dissertation book, The Philadelphia Negro, released in 1899, determined that housing and employment discrimination were the principal barriers to racial equality and black prosperity in the urban North. (blackpast.org/aah/dubois-william-edward-burghardt-1868-1963) In his written book, The Souls of Black Folks, released in 1903, he argued for "manly" and "ceaseless agitation and insistent demand for equality” which demanded a education of equality for blacks that’s not inferior to whites. (W. E. B. Du Bois and the NAACP, Virginia Historical Society) Du Bois promoted the idea of self improvement, without giving up full citizenship rights, which impacted the general well being of African American and visualized the idea of having an exclusive group of all black, educated leaders called “The

Read More

Autobiography Of An Ex-Colored Man By James Weldon Johnson

1444 Words | 6 Pages

After the events of the Civil War, White Americans were left confused as to how to integrate newly freed black slaves into a new American society. It was not just a problem for the U.S. South, who had lost the Civil War and was undergoing reconstruction of their whole culture and economy. The victorious northern states also had its biases against recently emancipated African Americans. A culture of segregation emerged along with the inherent challenges of its impact on American Society. Various authors at the time, attempted to explore (using different perspectives), the future of America and the impact of a newly demographic populace in the U.S. Many authors delved into the foray by documenting the confusion and dialogue of the decades following the Civil War, including James Weldon Johnson.

Read More

Comparison Of Booker T. Washington And W. E. B. Dubois

2471 Words | 10 Pages

The concept and discourse surrounding the battle for racial uplift has remained a pillar of Black activism and intellectual debates for over a century. While there have been a multitude of individuals involved in the struggle for racial uplift whose names never made it into the history books, there have also been a small number of individuals for whom history did capture. Two of the most famous members of the racial uplift battle were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. While both Washington and Dubois made it of paramount importance to improve the lives of Black people living in American society, they disagreed on the methodologies for how this racial uplift should be implemented. Through a comparative analysis of Booker T. Washington’s and W.E.B. Du Bois's theories on racial uplift, this paper contends that while both Du Bois and Washington highlight the importance of the power of individual agency, they differ markedly to the degree in which they emphasize multiple social institutions and the power of the social institutions to drive positive change in American Society.

Read More

Summary Of The Atlanta Compromise By Booker T. Washington

1568 Words | 7 Pages

He also highlights some of the paradoxes that the approach of the Atlanta Compromise, and how Booker T. Washington “is striving nobly to make Negro artisans businessmen and property-owners; but it is utterly impossible, under modern competitive methods, for workingmen and property-owners to defend their rights and exist without the right of suffrage.” (Du Bois p.43). The results and paradoxes of the approach of Booker T. Washington show how when issues aren’t discussed, people tend not to pay any attention to them, leading them to get worse. But it also shows how when issues are only discussed in the way that is comfortable to society or the population at large it leads to people not discussing the issue in away that will meaningfully solve it, rational deliberation allows people to break through these

Read More

Booker T. Washington And W. E. B. Du Bois

733 Words | 3 Pages

Du Bois, on the other hand, had a very different vision of what freedom should look like for African Americans in the South. In his essay “Of Booker T. Washington and Others,” published in 1903, Du Bois criticized Washington’s emphasis on economic progress and self-reliance. He argued that this approach only perpetuated the idea that African Americans were inferior and could only gain acceptance through hard work and submission. Du Bois wrote, “Mr. Washington distinctly asks that black people give up, at least for the present, three things— First, political power, Second, insistence on civil rights, Third, higher education of Negro youth—and concentrate all their energies on industrial education, the accumulation of wealth, and the conciliation of the South.” 3 Du Bois believed this approach only reinforced the idea that African Americans were second-class citizens and that true freedom could only be achieved through political and social

Read More

Reconstruction: The Real Death Of The Reconstruction Era

319 Words | 2 Pages

While racial attitudes and “Reconstruction weariness” contributed to the collapse of Reconstruction efforts, the use of violence against whites and blacks combined with the belief in white supremacy played the

Read More

A Summary Of Racism In America

852 Words | 4 Pages

At times some whites were involved in slave resistance and rebellions. The fear was that unhappy whites who were poor would join together with the black slaves to overthrow and destroy the existing order and system. Before all of this white and black indentured servants were treated equally bad and there was a cooperation among them. The rich plantation owners knew this was remembered though it was attempted to ingrain racism into everyone’s thinking. They feared the poor whites would turn against them so they subtly started to treat them better trying to persuade the poor whites that they were both working towards a common

Read More

More about Of Agency And The Failure Of Reconstruction By W. E. B. Du Bois

Related Topics

Open Document