W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois (pronounced doo-BOYSS) (February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, historian, author, and editor. At the age of 95, in 1963, he became a naturalized citizen of Ghana.
Historian David Levering Lewis wrote, "In the course of his long, turbulent career, W. E. B. Du Bois attempted virtually every possible solution to the problem of twentieth-century racism— scholarship, propaganda, integration, national self-determination, human rights, cultural and economic separatism, politics, international communism, expatriation, third world solidarity..."In 1895, Du Bois became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University....
While prominent white scholars denied African-American cultural, political and social relevance to American history and civic life, in his epic work Black Reconstruction, Du Bois documented how black people were central figures in the American Civil War and Reconstruction, and also showed how they made alliances with white politicians. He provided evidence to disprove the Dunning School theories of Reconstruction, showing the coalition governments established public education in the South, as well as many needed social service programs. He demonstrated the ways in which Black emancipation— the crux of Reconstruction — promoted a radical restructuring of United States society, as well as how and why the country failed to continue support for civil rights for blacks in the aftermath of Reconstruction....
Du Bois was the most prominent intellectual leader and political activist on behalf of African Americans in the first half of the twentieth century...Believing that [whites] should [be included], in 1909 Du Bois with a group of like-minded supporters founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)....
In 1934, Du Bois left the [editorship of the NAACP] magazine to return to teaching at Atlanta University, after writing two essays published in the Crisis suggesting that black separatism could be a useful economic strategy.... .
..In 1950, at the age of 82, Du Bois ran for U.S. Senator from New York on the American Labor Party ticket and polled a little over 200,000 votes, about 4 % of the total. Although he lost, Du Bois remained committed to the progressive labor cause. In 1958, he would join with Trotskyists, ex-Communists and independent radicals in proposing the creation of a united left-wing coalition to challenge for seats in elections for the New York State Senate and Assembly....
He was questioned before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) about his alleged communist sympathies. He was indicted in the United States under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and acquitted for lack of evidence.
In 1959, Du Bois received the Lenin Peace Prize. In 1961, at the age of 93, he joined the Communist Party USA, at a time when it was long past its peak of support....
Du Bois wrote and published more than 4,000 articles, essays, and books over the course of his 95-year life.
Click to read the full Wikipedia biography of W. E. B. Du Bois
Both the black leaders and culture have a liking for communist ideas. Primarily because of the collective concept of “what’s your’s is our’s”. Naturally in realality communism does not work this way as the intellectuals and leaders get the priviledge and the masses get whatever is left behind unwanted, the “crumbs”.
It is such a foreign concept why these people that choise to blindly accept this theory in disregard of history and still support collectivism is a puzzle and somehow accept the bait of effortlessly sharing in the fruits of someone elses hard work.
Some ethnic groups seem to be more predisposed to this “what’s your’s is mine” concept. When the shoe comes to the other foot however, they are not as eager for “what’s theirs also being your’s”.
This mindset could explain why blacks continue to support democrats, as the Pubbies promote self reliance and self determination and actual equality more.
Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell
http://www.librarything.com/work/86827
Here’s an excerpt of a book review on 4/2/08 by Frederick Glaysher re: the essay in the book entitled:
“Black Education: Achievements, Myths, and Tragedies”
“....In a fine section of this chapter on education, Sowell highlights the views of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois, documenting that their attitudes on educational expectations and other matters were much closer than the common politicized opinion today would have it. ....” More: http://www.librarything.com/work/86827
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Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an American educator, orator, author and the dominant leader of the African-American community nationwide from the 1890s to his death. Born to slavery and freed by the Civil War in 1865, as a young man, became head of the new Tuskegee Institute, then a teachers’ college for blacks. ...Washington did much to improve the overall friendship and working relationship between the races in the United States. His autobiography, Up From Slavery, first published in 1901, is still widely read today. ..... The organizers of the new all-black Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute found the energetic leader they sought in 25 year-old Booker T. Washington. Washington believed with a little self help, people may go from poverty to success. The new school opened on July 4, 1881, initially using space in a local church. The next year, Washington purchased a former plantation, which became the permanent site of the campus. Under his direction, his students literally built their own school: constructing classrooms, barns and outbuildings; growing their own crops and raising livestock, and providing for most of their own basic necessities.[6] Both men and women had to learn trades as well as academics. Washington helped raise funds to establish and operate hundreds of small community schools and institutions of higher educations for blacks.[7] The Tuskegee faculty utilized each of these activities to teach the students basic skills to take back to the mostly rural black communities throughout the South. The main goal was not to produce farmers and tradesmen, but teachers of farming and trades who taught in the new high schools and colleges for blacks across the South. The school later grew to become the present-day Tuskegee University.[8]
The institute illustrated Washington’s aspirations for his race. His theory was that by providing needed skills to society, African Americans would play their part, leading to acceptance by white Americans. He believed that blacks would eventually gain full participation in society by showing themselves to be responsible, reliable American citizens. Shortly after the Spanish-American War, President William McKinley and most of his cabinet visited the College President at the University. Washington was head of the school until his death in 1915. By then Tuskegee’s endowment had grown to over $1.5 million, compared to the initial $2,000 annual appropriation.[9]
MORE on him here (shows the “politicized opinion” about Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington