Using Sociology, Analyzing Web DuBois and His Founding the NAACP

¶ … scholar of black life in America," W.E.B. DuBois taught and practiced sociology and became one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Although DuBois eventually broke ties with the NAACP due to important ideological differences, the scholar, author, and sociologist had a greater impact on African-American history during the early 20th century than any other person. The mission and purpose of the NAACP is evident in the title of the organization: the advancement of colored people.

Current issues the NAACP addresses include advocacy in the areas of health care and education, as well as media diversity, economic opportunity, and civic engagement. The NAACP has been instrumental in creating real change in law and policy, particularly during the Civil Rights era when members like Thurgood Marshall helped to help institutionalized racism and segregation. " In 1954, Thurgood Marshall and a team of NAACP attorneys won Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas," one of the organization's most notable victories ("NAACP Legal History," n.d.).

The NAACP remains committed to a broad range of social justice issues. W.E.B. DuBois parted ways with the NAACP a few decades after helping to establish the organization. DuBois believed that African-Americans should empower themselves through black-run educational institutions, rather than struggling to be recognized in white institutions. His vision was for a strong African-American community that did not defer to the dominant white culture. DuBois's contemporaries clashed on critical issues such as whether racism was too entrenched in American society for genuine equality to be possible.

A century after DuBois's work with the NAACP, and it is evident that racism remains a serious problem. Therefore, the NAACP remains relevant in the lives of all Americans. Organizations like the NAACP provide advocacy services for disenfranchised citizens. The NAACP has inspired other organizations to follow suit and champion the rights of those who might otherwise be overlooked. DeBois became increasingly "disillusioned" with the United States and when he was 83 years old, renounced his citizenship and moved to Ghana, where he died in 1963 (Wormser, 2002).

DuBois is perhaps best known in academia for his seminal work The Souls of Black Folk, which introduced the concept of "double consciousness" as central to being African-American: the hyphen signifies being caught between two worlds. The concept of double consciousness is one that has permeated African-American literature, including the work of authors like Langston Hughes and other writers that were a part of the Harlem Renaissance. DuBois hoped to forge a self-empowered black community that did not depend on the approval or assistance of whites.

Contemporary sociologists can take from DuBois his understanding of social justice and the sociological patterns of inequity. DuBois's writings extend beyond the realm of African-American politics toward issues related to gender and social class as well. DuBois was a sociologist influenced by Weber and other thinkers who he worked with while living in Germany, whose socialist views advocated.