Applied Sociology of W.E.B. Du Bois

W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause is a newly released PBS documentary on the life, scholarship, and activism of one of the world’s most important sociologists, W.E.B. Du Bois (William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, 23 February 1868—27 August 1963). Currently, it is only available in the USA. Hopefully the rest of the world will be able to watch it soon. In celebration of his life’s work, we look at his achievements beyond academia. We begin with an overview of this methodological and theoretical innovations. We then explore Prof José Itzigsohn and Dr Karida L. Brown’s description of ‘Du Boisian sociology’ for contemporary times. They show how his work can be used to decolonise sociology, and undo the harm of racism and colonialism. We end with a summary of Du Bois’ non-sociological practice in activism, advocacy, applied research, and the arts.

Brief timeline of achievements

Below is an abridged timeline of key events and accomplishments, focusing on applied sociology (for a complete timeline, see here).

1883: Begins journalism career while still in high school. Writes for various newspapers, including New York Age, New York Globe, Freeman, and Springfield Republican. He is the Western Massachusetts correspondent for New York Age, New York Globe and Freeman.

1888: Completes Bachelor of Arts at Fisk University.

1890: Completes second Bachelor of Arts at Harvard College.

1891: Completes Master of Arts from Harvard University.

1895: Completes PhD from Harvard University. He is the first Black American to do so.

1900: Organises The Exhibit of American Negroes at the Exposition Universelle, in Paris. He showcases 363 photographs commemorating the lives of African Americans, as well as charts and Census data to challenge racist caricatures and stereotypes.

Painting of W.E. B. DuBois with his wife Nina and daughter Yolande. He is a young man looking to the side. He is balding and has black hair and a beard. Nina looks at the camera. She is young, with her black hair swept back. She wears gold hoop earrings and a beautiful ornate top with a velvet collar. Yolande is a baby wearing a frilly white dress. She has plumb red cheeks — W. E. B. Du Bois with his wife Nina and their daughter Yolande, circa 1901. Original photo source.

1903: Publishes The Souls of Black Folk.

1905: Co-founds The Niagara Movement, a civil rights organisation, addressing principles of progress, suffrage, education, protest, and justice. This would later lead to the formation of the National Association of the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP), a civil rights organisation in the USA that builds Black political power to end structural racism.

1907: Founds and edits The Horizon: A Journal of the Colour Line.

1909: Co-founds the NAACP. Edits its journal, The Crisis, for the next 20 years, and later serves as Director of Publicity and Research. Separately, joins the Socialist Party.

Cover of 'The Crisis,' with a sketch of a Black man standing beside a harvest, as he looks up to heads of Black leaders swirling in the clouds. This includes Du Bois, and Frederick Douglass — Cover of Crisis Magazine. Source

1920: Publishes Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil, including biographical essays, poetry, spirituals, and the perennially popular science fiction short story, ‘The Comet.’ Founds and edits The Brownies’ Book, a magazine for children.

1921: Travels to Europe to attend the second Pan-African Congress.

1935: Publishes Black Reconstruction in America.

1937: Co-Chairs the Council on African Affairs, a volunteer organisation focused on anticolonialism and Pan-Africanism in the USA and internationally.

1945: One of three NAACP delegates to attend the 1945 conference in San Francisco where the United Nations was established.

1953: Awarded the International Peace Prize from the World Council of Peace.

1961: Moves to Ghana, where he lives for the rest of his life. He was invited by President Nkrumah, Director of Encyclopaedia Africana Project, a collection of African Studies and diaspora works. Du Bois first conceived the project in 1901, but it was completed 30 years after his death. The first edition was published in 1999, and the second edition in 2005.

1961: Joins the Communist Party.

Method

Du Bois led the development of inductive empiricism in the United States. The Philadelphia Negro (1899) was the first empirical urban and community study in American sociology, conducted on the Black community in Philadelphia.

His study’s aim was to explore the geographic distribution, socioeconomic outcomes, family, work, and organisations of 45,000 Black Americans in Philadelphia, as well as analyse their relations to ‘their one million white fellow-citizens.’ Du Bois used extensive ethnographic methods, multiple surveys, geographic reviews, statistical analysis, and interviews.

Illustration of a young Du Bois leanding on a marble bench. He has black hair and a moustache, and wears a chequered suit. The quote reads: We must study, we must investigate, we must attempt to solve..." — W.E.B. Du Bois while a student at Fisk University in Nashville, from 1885 to 1888. Source.

Theory

In the seminal The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Du Bois establishes race as the defining feature of modernity.

A young Du Bois is seated on a couch, surrounded by three Black women and another Black man. They are dressed in beautiful Victorian era clothing. Quote reads: 'The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the colour-line—the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea' — W.E.B. Du Bois (front left), with the Fisk University class of 1888. Original photo source

Du Bois explores the concept of double consciousness. This describes how Black Americans navigate discrimination, as well as an internal struggle of being both American and not American.

A young Du Bois is seen from the waist up. He has black hair and a moustache, and wears a beautiful coat — Graduation portrait of W.E.B. Du Bois, a member of Harvard College Class of 1890. Original photo source.

Du Boisian sociology

In The Sociology of W.E.B. Du Bois, Prof José Itzigsohn and Dr Karida L. Brown (2020) define Du Boisian sociology as ‘a sociological approach that draws from the theoretical and methodological tradition of W.E.B. Du Bois and puts racism and colonialism at the centre of the understanding of modernity’ (2020: xi).

Itzigsohn and Brown detail that Du Boisian practice has eight components:

Critique of racialised modernity: Racialised modernity describes how colonialism and racism are intrinsic to global capitalism.
Contextualisation: Integrating local context, historical analysis, theorisation of racialised modernity, and power structures.
Relationality: Interaction between institutions, power relations, and community networks. E.g. We cannot understand the Black experience without also examining the actions of white people, especially those in power.
Historicity: The role of history on the changing structures and conditions that impact oppression, exclusion, and resistance in the present-day. The specificity of history must be addressed through both theory and methods.
Public sociology: Commitment to an emancipatory, anticolonial, and antiracist practices, by engaging non-academic audiences. E.g. Public debates, media articles, and the arts.
Subaltern standpoint: The shared experiences of racialised people, which lead to a critical analysis of the world, including lived experience of race, power, and domination.
Decolonising the sociological imagination: Revising our theoretical ‘genealogy’ to incorporate theorists from racialised and colonised contexts, especially antiracists and anticolonialists (see video below). This also requires training students on Du Boisian methods. E.g. Historical analysis, and antiracist phenomenology.
Emancipatory sociology: Actively working to undo the colour line, racism and colonialism (e.g. collaborating with community organisations). It also requires mentoring and supporting students of colour and first-generation students. Finally, we must contribute to an ethics of solidarity and cooperation. E.g. Inclusive professional practices.