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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page research paper/essay that discusses the opening chapter of his landmark 1903 text, The Souls of Black Folk, by African American leader W.E.B. Du Bois outlines the emotional dichotomy inherent in the lives of black Americans, a dichotomy that he termed “double-consciousness.” This term concisely and eloquently refers to the perception of African Americans that they have two identities—that of being an “American,” but also that of being “black.” Examination of Du Bois’ concept, first of all, summarizes his position and discusses the accuracy of this position, but then also looks at how this concept applies to the lived experience of African Americans during the post-World War II era. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
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5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khwebdc.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
of black Americans, a dichotomy that he termed "double-consciousness." This term concisely and eloquently refers to the perception of African Americans that they have two identities-that of being an "American,"
but also that of being "black." Examination of Du Bois concept, first of all, summarizes his position and discusses the accuracy of this position, but then also looks at how
this concept applies to the lived experience of African Americans during the post-World War II era. The first chapter of Du Bois text, which is entitled "Of Spiritual Strivings,"
Du Bois being a "Negro" is rather like being "born with a veil and gifted with second-sight in this American world," as this world yields to black people "...no true
self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world" (Du Bois Ch. 1, paragraph 3). In other words, since African Americans were ostracized and oppressed
during Du Bois era, being designated a "Negro" meant being marginalized and excluded from socializing factor of the mainstream. Rather than being included in the mainstream culture and structures that
define identity, Du Bois found that black Americans suffered from the "peculiar sensation" of "double-consciousness," that is, the "sense of always looking at ones self through the eyes of others,
of measuring ones soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity" (Du Bois ch. 1, para. 3). In other words, black Americans in
the late nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth consistently received social messages concerning how they were perceived by mainstream European-descended society. These messages concerned the notion of
racial inferiority, of being "other," not quite as intelligent, as "human" as the rest of society. A contemporary of Du Bois, the Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes, substantiates Du
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