Summarize the main points from Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk. Also include the three reasons as outlined by the authors as to why this particular piece is notable.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

First, historically, The Souls of Black Folk is important because it explicitly exposed an important intellectual and political schism in the black community between the more moderate Booker T. Washington; and the more radical Du Bois. Second, from a social science standpoint, The Souls of Black Folk is significant because Du Bois writes in a new “voice.” Disgusted by the failure of sound empirical research to lead to desperately needed social change for the African American community and having done the empirical work himself, Du Bois became convinced that empirical data alone would never convince white Americans of the true workings of racial discrimination and prejudice. Third, The Souls of Black Folk is important theoretically because it contains three interrelated concepts for which Du Bois is now famous: the color line, double consciousness, and the veil.