Dubois

2 Pages 386 Words

In Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk he addresses what it is like to be an African American living in the turn of the twentieth century. Du Bois isn’t like any ordinary black man though. He fortunately has been very well educated. This is rare during this time period. He discusses what its like to be black and how race will have effect on society in the future. I think that Du Bois is a sociological figure. He brings up ideas from an African American view. Not many sociologists, if there are even any, have done this before.
Race had a huge impact on life during this time. Many blacks didn’t have the opportunity that Du Bois was given. Most didn’t even get to go to college, or even get through high school. Du Bois saw the fact that blacks had it hard, and this is what he discussed in his book, The Souls of Black Folk.
When Weber discusses legitimate authority, he discusses how domination, or legitimate domination is one type of authority. This does not always mean in a rational sense. After reading Du Bois, I feel that he believed that the southern authority was not legitimate during this time period. The southern African Americans didn’t agree to the Southern authority of the time period. I don’t think that the black citizens of the south didn’t really accept and obey the rules.
I believe that Du Bois mostly believes in traditional type of social action. Where the traditional rights of the dominant group are accepted or not challenged. The blacks although they didn’t accept the rules for the most part, they didn’t really challenge them. When looking at his writings, it is easy to see the traditional action in them. He discusses how it feels to be a problem.
“A people thus handicapped… sweating black man is darkened by the shadow of a vast despair.” (Du Bois, Kimmel p. 386) I believe what Du Bois meant by this quote is that while the white man is out doing whatever it is that he does, the black man is ou...