Planting Trees for Others

Give me some Shade 

I have written many stories about the men and women of this country coming together to solve problems. Today I will give yet another example of our successful history in helping people we don't or will never get to know. This blog reminds me of the adage; Blessed are older people who plant trees knowing that they shall never sit in the shade of their foliage. A sermon French theologian Hyacinthe Loyson delivered in Paris in 1866.

It is my summation that this is an example of the life of William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (W.E.B Du Bois). On February 23, 1868, William was born a free man in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. I understand that this is an interesting statement; however, many black children came into this world under the rule of slavery. Du Bois was an eager learner and brilliant student. As a result, his church congregation, the First Congregational Church of Great Barrington, raised the money for his college tuition.  

Furthermore, he would witness extreme bigotry, suppression of black voting, and lynchings that would peak in the next decade.  

A Harvard Man

Consequently, William decided to study sociology and history. In 1890, Harvard awarded Du Bois his second bachelor's degree, cum laude, in history. In 1891, Du Bois received a scholarship to attend the sociology graduate school at Harvard.

Just be You

In 1892, Du Bois received a fellowship from the John F. Slater Fund for the Education of Freedmen to attend the University of Berlin for graduate work. While a student in Berlin, he traveled extensively throughout Europe. He came of age intellectually in the German capital while studying with some of that nation's most prominent social scientists, including Gustav von Schmoller (economics), Adolph Wagner (politician), and Heinrich von Treitschke (historian). All of these men had a significant effect on Du Bois's worldview.  

William would later write about his experience, "I found myself outside the American world, looking in. With me were white folk – students, acquaintances, teachers – who viewed the scene with me. They did not always pause to regard me as a curiosity or something sub-human; I was just a man of the somewhat privileged student rank, with whom they were glad to meet and talk over the world; particularly the part of the world whence I came." William completed his graduate studies; in 1895, he was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

As a result of his Ph.D., William had taken teaching positions at various universities. Consequently, he accepted a one-year research job at the University of Pennsylvania as an "assistant in sociology" in 1896. He performed sociological field research in Philadelphia's African-American neighborhoods, which formed the foundation for his landmark study, The Philadelphia Negro, published in 1899. Du Bois had transcended the stereotype of black communities consisting of only crime, poverty, and immorality. Furthermore, he uncovered empirical data that segregation was the root of black society's problems.  

Same but Different 

Consequently, the results made him realize that racial integration was the key to democratic equality in American cities. The methodology employed in The Philadelphia Negro, namely the description and the mapping of social characteristics onto neighborhood areas, was a forerunner to the studies under the Chicago School of Sociology.

In the first decade of the new century, Du Bois emerged as a spokesperson for his race, second only to Booker T. Washington (the director of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama). To fully understand the struggle black men and women endured during the 19th and 20th centuries, you must understand the Reconstruction era (1865-1877). The concise version is that after the civil war, many of the Southern States maintained many of the racist laws and re-establishing many of the repressive cultural attitudes toward black people. 

Booker T and Du Bois had differing opinions on how to handle the color line that divided our nation. Washington preferred to work within the system to establish unwritten laws or rights protecting black people. Du Bois felt that African Americans should fight for equal rights and higher opportunities rather than passively submit to segregation and discrimination. The two would be critical of each other; however, both would help move the nation toward a more integrated society. 

Booker T. Washington and family 

NAACP is Born

In May 1909, Du Bois attended the National Negro Conference in New York. The meeting led to creation of the National Negro Committee, chaired by Oswald Villard and dedicated to campaigning for civil rights, equal voting rights, and equal educational opportunities. The following spring, in 1910, at the second National Negro Conference, the attendees created the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).  

Du Bois's suggested "colored" rather than "black" was used to include "dark-skinned people everywhere." Dozens of civil rights supporters, black and white, participated in the founding. Still, most executive officers were white, including Mary Ovington (suffragist), Charles Edward Russell (newspaper editor), William English Walling (labor reformer), and its first president, Moorfield Storey (lawyer and civil rights leader).

The Power of the Pen

The leaders of the NAACP soon reached out to Du Bois and requested that he accept the position of Director of Publicity and Research. As a result, he took charge of editing the NAACP's monthly magazine, which he named The Crisis. The first issue Du Bois wrote that it aimed to set out "those facts and arguments which show the danger of race prejudice, particularly as manifested today toward colored people." Within ten years, the paper reached a circulation of over 100,000 people. 

William would write about and support anti-lynching laws, unionized labor, and women's rights. The Crisis was gaining in popularity, and so was Du Bois. Furthermore, he learned that the power of the pen could be used to bring attention to both private and political sectors. For example, under President Wilson, the plight of African Americans in government jobs suffered. Many federal agencies adopted whites-only employment practices, the Army excluded blacks from officer ranks, and the immigration service prohibited the immigration of persons of African ancestry.  

Over the next thirty years, Du Bois would champion civil rights against impossible odds. However, he did not attempt this alone. William motivated black people to abandon the Republican party, as they no longer supported people of color. He would throw his support to the Democrats and bring millions of voters with him. An act that changed the political power structure for the next 100 years. 

Thank You