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W. E. B. Dubois Double Consciousness Essay

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Recommended: A reflective glance on cultural diversity

There are a variety of cultural differences depicted throughout the world. Beliefs systems and social groups in our society today are based on a person’s background history, upbringing, and consciousness. One major aspect of a social group is the study of double consciousness or the internal conflict. The presence of two unconnected streams of consciousness in one individual or experienced by subordinated groups in an oppressive society in comparison to one’s own individuality or the quality that makes one person or thing different from all others. How a person feels about themselves and the intrapersonal relationship that occurs within the individual mind or self has a great impact on a person’s life.
W.E.B. Du Bois, the creator of the NAACP, focused his early studies on race and racial identity. He created the notion of Double Consciousness, which he describes in his The Souls of Black Folk. Du Bois states that “African Americans experience identity in a complex, and contradictory manner, quite different from that experienced by European Americans”. (Smith and Riley p24) As a Black person or African American you have to have your own perspective of how you see yourself and then be conscious of how the …show more content…

According to W.E.B. Du Bois, “The Souls of Black Folks”: 1903, African Americans in the United States have two conflicting identities that cannot be entirely merged together. The first identity is the Black or African experience and culture. The second identity is the American identity due to being born in the United States as a result of the captivity of slavery. “Double consciousness has forced some blacks to see themselves through the eyes of the dominant white society. Du Bois theory of double consciousness is always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others.”(Lyubansky and

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