Throughout The Scholar Denied, Morris assertively demonstrates the unjust academic racism Du Bois endured that kept his scholarship from being accepted as the predecessor to the Chicago school. Now, being an African American myself, I can appreciate Morris’ determination to shed light on racism’s role in Du Bois’s ideas being systematically overlooked because, indeed, systematic racism continues until this day in just about every sociological aspect of minority life. But to readily accept that racism single-handedly explains Du Bois’s omittance is far too easy. To be clear, he does mention other factors like class, status, and power, but I didn’t feel like those were highlighted with the same amount of passion as race. One must take into consideration
