W E B Du Bois
W E B Du Bois (1868-1963), full name William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, was a US writer and educator. He was born in Massachusetts and got doctorate from Harvard University. He became professor of economics and history at Atlanta University (1897-1910).Du Bois was co-founder of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1909) and edited its magazine Crisis (1910-34). He was known for his writing on issues of slavery, civil rights and problems facing African-Americans. His numerous works included his famous books The Souls of Black Folk and Color and Democracy. He advocated radical black movement and lectured extensively.
Du Bois joined the Communist party in 1961. Later, he moved to Ghana and became naturalized citizen, but shortly died.
Wisdom & Quotes
- Business pays ... philanthropy begs.
- To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.
- Actively we have woven ourselves with the very warp and woof of this nation - we have fought their battles, shared their sorrow, mingled our blood with theirs, and generation after generation have pleaded with a headstrong, careless people to despise not Justice, Mercy and Truth, lest the nation be smitten with a curse. Our song, our toil, our cheer and warning have been given to this nation in blood brotherhood. Are not these gifts worth the giving? Is not this worth the striving? Would America have been America without her Negro People?
- Little of beauty has America given the world save the rude grandeur of God himself stamped on her bosom; the human spirit in this new world has expressed itself in vigour and ingenuity rather than in beauty.
- If there is anybody in this land who thoroughly believes that the meek shall inherit the earth, they have not often let their presence be known.
- There can be no perfect democracy curtailed by colour, race, or poverty. But with all we accomplish all, even peace.
- Farewell! No sound of idle
To shudder this full silence - save
The voice
Of children - little children, white
And black
Whispering the deeds I tried to do for them;
While I at last unguided and alone
Pass softly, full softly.
- Farewell
- Freedom always entails danger.
- I believe in Liberty for all men: the space to stretch their arms and their souls; the right to breathe and the right to vote, the freedom to choose their friends, enjoy the sunshine, and ride on the railroads, uncursed by colour; thinking, dreaming, working as they will in a kingdom of beauty and love.
- Believe in life! Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader, and fuller life.
- We shall never secure emancipation form the tyranny of the white oppressor until we have achieved it in our own souls.
- Race prejudice decreases values, both real estate and human.
- If the unemployed could eat plans and promises, they would be able to spend the winter on the Riviera.
- The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the colour line.
- We cannot escape the clear fact that what is going to win in this world is reason, if this ever becomes a reasonable world.
- There is in this world no such force as the force of a man determined to rise. The human soul cannot be permanently chained.
Mahatma Gandhi