The Appeal of Black Folk
Did David Walker’s Appeal influence the work of W.E.B. Dubois? What kind of themes are prominent in both of their works? William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born in 1968 in Massachusetts (Jarrett 909). He was the first African American to graduate from his high school. Later, he attended Fisk University, Harvard University (where he was the first African American to achieve a PhD), and University of Berlin. Dubois created the American Negro Academy and wrote many essays that criticized the culture of racial discrimination (Jarrett 910). He published The Souls of Black Folk in 1903. Dubois co-founded the Niagara Movement which later stemmed into the NAACP (Jarrett 911). David Walker was born in or around Wilmington, North Carolina, to a slave father and a free black woman. Lawfully, a child inherited the status of his mother, so Walker was a free African American. …show more content…
Dubois’ The Souls of Black Folk; these similarities may be due to the influence Walker had on Dubois. Dubois names Walker a stepping stone in African American literature and praises his insistence for equality. A marked copy of the Appeal was found with Dubois’s initials which alludes to Dubois’s in Walker’s work. Both of the authors dismiss the ideology of inferiority and call for African-Americans to fight it. Moreover, the authors oppose this inferiority to any extent where they suggest death is better. In their works, they add similar stories that illustrate the unethical racial culture in the United States. Today, African-American writers like Shonda Rhimes are still influenced by the work of other African-American writers and use their work as a tool to comment on issues plaguing society and black
Did David Walker’s Appeal influence the work of W.E.B. Dubois? What kind of themes are prominent in both of their works? William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born in 1968 in Massachusetts (Jarrett 909). He was the first African American to graduate from his high school. Later, he attended Fisk University, Harvard University (where he was the first African American to achieve a PhD), and University of Berlin. Dubois created the American Negro Academy and wrote many essays that criticized the culture of racial discrimination (Jarrett 910). He published The Souls of Black Folk in 1903. Dubois co-founded the Niagara Movement which later stemmed into the NAACP (Jarrett 911). David Walker was born in or around Wilmington, North Carolina, to a slave father and a free black woman. Lawfully, a child inherited the status of his mother, so Walker was a free African American. …show more content…
Dubois’ The Souls of Black Folk; these similarities may be due to the influence Walker had on Dubois. Dubois names Walker a stepping stone in African American literature and praises his insistence for equality. A marked copy of the Appeal was found with Dubois’s initials which alludes to Dubois’s in Walker’s work. Both of the authors dismiss the ideology of inferiority and call for African-Americans to fight it. Moreover, the authors oppose this inferiority to any extent where they suggest death is better. In their works, they add similar stories that illustrate the unethical racial culture in the United States. Today, African-American writers like Shonda Rhimes are still influenced by the work of other African-American writers and use their work as a tool to comment on issues plaguing society and black