¶ … intellectual biography of William Edward DuBois. The writer takes the reader on an exploratory journey that details the life of Dubois and his contributions to society and the field of social work. There were five sources used to complete this paper.
Since the nation's inception the movement to better understand social sciences has been a driving force behind many of the changes that have taken place. Social sciences provide a foundational groundwork for the discovery of why human behavior is what it is and how members of mankind interact with each other. Understanding this is one of the most important components of understanding human nature and it can open the door to guiding society in positive and constructive decisions for the future. In addition to the understanding of how people interact social work and social sciences provide clues to the workings within targeted populations. This understanding can assist in the move toward world peace and cohesive living. History has provided the world with many prominent names in the field of social work and social science. One of the most influential and forward thinkers in the field of social work is W.E.B. Dubois.
One biographer wrote about the famed social work expert;" Few intellectuals have done more to shape the twentieth century than W.E.B. Du Bois (DuBois Biography (http://clickit.go2net.com/search?)." Dubois's life was filled with movements and activities geared toward changing the plight of many populations including the plight of the African-Americans. Dubois left his mark on the world through his work as an intellectual and his application of that intellect to the field of social work (DuBois Biography (http://clickit.go2net.com/search?).He had the ability to move thousands of people to take action and change the way things happen. He was someone who held an elite point-of-view when it came to philosophy. He became so emotionally involved in his beliefs and his frustration that he renounced is American citizenship and died in exile but during his life he moved mountains to bring an understanding of human nature to the humans who lived it (DuBois Biography (http://clickit.go2net.com/search?).
WHO WAS HE?
Dubois was born three short years after the act of slavery was declared illegal with the thirteenth amendment. While he did not live as a slave he was born close enough to the end of the practice that he was a front row witness to the lingering racism and attitudes that were still in practice. As a small child his family was several generations removed from actual bondage but he did have an opportunity to grow up listening to stories that were handed down about what it was like to be owned by another human being (DuBois Biography (http://clickit.go2net.com/search?).
As a small child Dubois was shielded for the most part from the ugly views of racism. He grew up in a town that had very few black families and as a small child his teachers considered him a favorite. He was extremely intelligent and the teachers appreciated his intellect and love or learning. Dubois grew up in an almost perfect setting. This upbringing may have helped him become a social activist when he became a young man in college and discovered that the color of his skin was considered a problem to many that he encountered.
WHAT TRIGGERED HIS ACTIVISM?
Dubois led a peaceful and happy childhood where he loved education and encountered success and admiration by those he worked with. When he became a young man and went off to Nashville, TN to attend Fisk University he had the rude awakening that racism was a fact in America and his skin color meant he would be treated as a second class citizen regardless of his brain and accomplishments. It was at Fisk University that he discovered his Black identity and it changed his life forever. It was that discovery that spurned him to become the great social leader that he became.
He spent his summers teaching in rural schools. It was there that he met "the real seat of slavery." Never before had he encountered such overwhelming poverty (DuBois Biography (http://clickit.go2net.com/search?)."I touched intimately the lives of the commonest of mankind -- people who ranged from barefooted dwellers on dirt floors, with patched rags for clothes, to rough hard-working farmers, with plain clean plenty." Unlike Massachusetts, Nashville was a southern town that exposed Du Bois to the everyday bigotry he had escaped growing up. He accidentally bumped into a white woman who spurned his apology: "How dare you speak to me, you...
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