{"id":7488,"date":"2023-02-16T16:08:14","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T16:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=7488"},"modified":"2023-02-16T16:08:14","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T16:08:14","slug":"w-e-b-du-bois-should-serve-as-a-reminder-about-the-importance-of-black-history-month-and-what-is-at-stake-in-current-conversations-about-african-american-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/16\/w-e-b-du-bois-should-serve-as-a-reminder-about-the-importance-of-black-history-month-and-what-is-at-stake-in-current-conversations-about-african-american-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"W.E.B. Du Bois Should Serve as a Reminder about the Importance of Black History Month and What Is at Stake in Current Conversations about African American Studies."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
W.E.B. Du Bois<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Chad Williams<\/span><\/b>, NewsOne<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The opening days of Black History Month 2023 have coincided with controversy about the teaching and broader meaning of African American studies.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Feb. 1, 2023<\/span>, the College Board released a revised curriculum for its newly developed Advanced Placement African American studies course.<\/span><\/p>\n

Critics have accused the College Board of caving to political pressure stemming from conservative backlash and the decision of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to\u00a0<\/span>ban the course<\/span><\/a>\u00a0from public high schools in Florida because of what he characterized as its radical content and inclusion of topics such as\u00a0<\/span>critical race theory<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>reparations<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0<\/span>Black Lives Matter<\/span><\/a>\u00a0movement.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Feb. 11, 1951, an article by the 82-year-old Black scholar-activist W.E.B. Du Bois titled \u201c<\/span>Negro History Week<\/span><\/a>\u201d appeared in the short-lived New York newspaper The Daily Compass.<\/span><\/p>\n

As one of the founders of the NAACP in 1909 and the editor of its powerful magazine\u00a0<\/span>The Crisis<\/span><\/a>, Du Bois is considered by historians and intellectuals from many academic disciplines as America\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>preeminent thinker on race<\/span><\/a>. His thoughts and opinions still carry weight throughout the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Du Bois\u2019 words in that 1951 article are especially prescient today, offering a reminder about the importance of Black History Month and what is at stake in current conversations about African American studies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Du Bois began his Daily Compass commentary by praising\u00a0<\/span>Carter G. Woodson<\/span><\/a>, founder of the\u00a0<\/span>Association for the Study of Negro Life and History<\/span><\/a>, who established Negro History Week in 1926. The week would eventually become Black History Month.<\/span><\/p>\n

Du Bois described the annual commemoration as Woodson\u2019s \u201ccrowning achievement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Woodson was\u00a0<\/span>the second African American<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to earn a doctorate in history from Harvard University.\u00a0<\/span>Du Bois was the first<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Du Bois and Woodson did not always see eye to eye. However, as\u00a0<\/span>I explore<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in my new book, \u201c<\/span>The Wounded World: W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World War<\/span><\/a>,\u201d the two pioneering scholars always respected each other.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reckoning with history and reclaiming the past<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Du Bois\u2019 connection to and appreciation of Negro History Week grew during the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s.\u00a0<\/span>During this time<\/span><\/a>, whether in public speeches or published articles, he never missed an opportunity to acknowledge the importance of Negro History Week.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Feb. 11, 1951, article, Du Bois reflected that his own contributions to Negro History Week \u201clay in my long effort as a historian and sociologist to make America and Negroes themselves aware of the significant facts of Negro history.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Summarizing his work from his first book, \u201c<\/span>The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade<\/span><\/a>,\u201d published in 1896, through his magnum opus \u201c<\/span>Black Reconstruction in America<\/span><\/a>,\u201d published in 1935, Du Bois told readers of the Daily Compass piece that much of his career was spent trying \u201cto correct the distortion of history in regard to Negro enfranchisement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

By doing so, the nation would hopefully become, Du Bois wrote further, \u201cconscious that this part of our citizenry were normal human beings who had served the nation credibly and were still being deprived of their credit by ignorant and prejudiced historians.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to championing Negro History Week, Du Bois applauded other Black scholars, like\u00a0<\/span>E. Franklin Frazier<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Charles Johnson<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Shirley Graham<\/span><\/a>, who were \u201csteadily attacking\u201d the omissions and distortions of Black people in school textbooks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Du Bois went on to chronicle the achievements of African Americans in science, religion, art, literature and the military, making clear that Black people had a history to be proud of.<\/span><\/p>\n

Du Bois, however, questioned what deeper meaning these achievements held to the issues facing Black people in the present.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat now does Negro History Week stand for?\u201d he asked in the 1951 article. \u201cShall American Negroes continue to learn to be \u2018proud\u2019 of themselves, or is there a higher broader aim for their research and study?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words,\u201d he asserted, \u201cas it becomes more universally known what Negroes contributed to America in the past, more must logically be said and taught concerning the future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The time had come, Du Bois believed, for African Americans to stop striving to be merely \u201cthe equal of white Americans.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Black people needed to cease emulating the worst traits of America \u2013 flamboyance, individualism, greed and financial success at any cost \u2013 and support\u00a0<\/span>labor unions<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Pan-Africanism<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>anti-colonial struggle<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

He especially encouraged the systematic study of the imperial and economic roots of racism: \u201cHere is a field for Negro History Week.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Black history and Black struggle<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Du Bois declared that if Negro History Week remained \u201ctrue to the ideals of Carter Woodson\u201d and followed \u201cthe logical development of the Negro Race in America,\u201d it would not confine itself to the study of the past nor \u201cboasting and vainglory over what we have accomplished.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt will not mistake wealth as the measure of America, nor big-business and noise as World Domination,\u201d Du Bois wrote in his article.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, Du Bois believed Negro History Week would \u201cconcentrate on study of the present,\u201d \u201cnot be afraid of radical literature\u201d and, above all else, advocate for peace and voice \u201ceternal opposition against war between the white and colored peoples of the earth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Were he alive today, Du Bois would certainly have much to say about current debates around the teaching of African American history and the larger significance of African American studies.\u00a0<\/span>Du Bois died<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on Aug. 27, 1963, in Accra, Ghana.<\/span><\/p>\n

But he left behind his clairvoyant words that remind us of the connections between African American studies and movements for Black liberation, along with how the teaching of African American history has always challenged racist and exclusionary narratives of the nation\u2019s past.<\/span><\/p>\n

Du Bois also reminds us that Black History Month is rooted in a legacy of activism and resistance, one that continues in the present.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chad Williams<\/span><\/a>, Samuel J. and Augusta Spector Professor of History and African and African American Studies,\u00a0<\/span>Brandeis University<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on\u00a0<\/span><\/em>NewsOne<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chad Williams, NewsOne The opening days of Black History Month 2023 have coincided with controversy about the teaching and broader meaning of African American studies. On Feb. 1, 2023, the College Board released a revised curriculum for its newly developed Advanced Placement African American studies course. Critics have accused the College Board of caving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,17],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[162],"class_list":["post-7488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headline","category-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7490,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7488\/revisions\/7490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7488"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=7488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}