The Souls Of Black Folk By W. E. B. Dubois Summary

In a time when African Americans lacked civil rights, W.E.B Dubois aimed to improve the lives of African Americans by giving readers more insight on these issues in his novel, The Souls of Black Folk. The book includes African American discrimination and events in history where discrimination took place from DuBois point of view. He believed that lack of civil rights ruined many people’s lives and the way to solve that was through education. Dubois was someone who tried to fix what was ruining those people's lives, as a rights activist for African Americans and a writer.
Born on February 23, 1868, to a free African American family in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, DuBois started his life not knowing how African Americans were being treated …show more content…
He chose to focus his studies on equal rights for African Americans (Biography.com). In the Forethought of The Souls of Black Folk DuBois talks about how strong of a passion he has about African American discrimination and how he hopes the reader can see how serious the issue is (DuBois V). DuBois’ passion was drawn from his need to help others who had been hurt by African American mistreatment. He believed he could help due to his great education and that education would help solve the racial issues. Additionally, because DuBois believed in equal opportunities for all, he was a liberal. He believed all African Americans should go to school for a liberal education and stand up for their rights. Whites don’t believe that African Americans have any education and DuBois wanted to prove them wrong (Eddieplayfair.com). That philosophy is shown throughout the book by DuBois using advanced and precise language which shows that he (an African American) did have an excellent vocabulary and education. Though DeBois’ religion is never specifically stated in the book, he includes a chapter on how a church was the only place an African American was really free. In a church, they could express themselves freely but rarely could do that outside unlike a white person (DuBois 120). The …show more content…
I believe DuBois is biased because all his goals were toward the ending of African American discrimination, which shows he is biased towards racial equality. The author’s background helps the book because DuBois’ wrote the book with a purpose of proving that African Americans had a great education too, and he did that with the great education that he got. “They (African American students) have seldom become agitators..and have worked steadily and faithfully in a thousand communities in the South” (DuBois 63). This means that the African Americans who had a great education can really make a difference in the fight for racial equality. DuBois, who had a great education, is making a difference and is influencing others that education will lead to