Joshua Glover American Philosophy March 16th 2015 Reading Summary 3 (The Conservation of Races) W.E.B. Du Bois wrote "The Conservation of Races" in 1897 in support of the academy that was just beginning to form at the time for black people (Negro Academy). W.E.B Du Boise's main argument that he stresses is the fact that every race has a part that must be played to the world, but he states that the African American race had not at the time made their full contribution, in major part because of what he sees as immorality. W.E.B. Du Bois spends half of this essay talking about the exact definition of race, then afterwards Du Bois attempts to explore the boundaries of the Negro, specifically, and then he closes it out with the Negro Academy as representative of the Negro race. …show more content…
Du Bois states that race is primarily a cultural phenomenon, and not really biological. Du Bois says that race perhaps transcends scientific definitions, but are defined to each person's point of view.. Shortly after Du Bois says this he defines what he thinks race means exactly. He defines it as "a family of humans, generally of common blood, and always of common history, traditions and impulses, who are both voluntarily and involuntarily striving together for the accomplishment of certain more or less vividly conceived ideals of life." The biological nature is discussed, but he does not use it too strictly as a defining term. Du Bois defines it as a classification of race on levels with group identifications – a seemingly social