Responses
HEA 630: Discussion 9 Cortney A Matthews
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An extraordinary leader of his time. A civil rights activist Pan – Africanist, sociologist, educator, historian writer, editor, poet , scholar and founder of the NAACP. Kwame Nkrumah remarked that he was “a phenomenon (NAACP, 2021)”.
W.E.B Du Bois
Biography
Du Bois was born February 23,1868 in Barrington Massachusetts where he was raised. “He had two children with his wife, Nina Gomer. He became a naturalized citizen of Ghana in 1963 at the age of 95 – the year of his death” (NAACP, 2021).
Accomplishments
Founder and general secretary of the Niagara Movement
A founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and from 1910 to 1934
graduated from high school as valedictorian
became the first African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard University
wrote two novels, The Quest of the Silver Fleece (1911) and Dark Princess: A Romance (1928); a book of essays and poetry, Darkwater: Voices from within the Veil (1920); and two histories of black people, The Negro (1915) and The Gift of Black Folk: Negroes in the Making of America (1924).
Served as chairman of the Peace Information Center and ran for the U.S. Senate on the American Labor party ticket
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Leadership Characteristics
W.E.B DuBois was a scholarly and transformative leader who was not afraid to use his voice to transform America. His work “transformed the way that the lives of Black citizens were seen in American society. Considered ahead of his time, Du Bois was an early champion of using data to solve social issues for the Black community, and his writing—including his groundbreaking The Souls of Black Folk—became required reading in African American studies” (Editors, 2021).
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Lessons Learned
W.E.B Du Bois believed that black people should educate themselves to gain positions of leadership. He had a major influence on improving education for African American people. From this, one of the biggest lessons learned from Du Bois is the importance of education in the African American community and the strength in gaining leadership positions in order to better the African American community.
Closing:
Prediction of how the characteristics and lessons can be applied to challenges
in higher education today.
The influence that W.E.B Du Bois had on the African American community was and is still today very impactful. Because of Du Bois’ leadership, many African American people believe in scholarship and the benefit of education for the black person in society as it is today. The leadership characteristics and lessons learned from Du Bois can be applied to challenges in higher education today to continue to help underrepresented people strive to obtain education in pursuit of leadership roles. This is very important when it comes to representation in leadership in America.
References
Editors, H. (2021, January 26 ). W.E.B. Du Bois. Retrieved from History: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/w-e-b-du-bois
NAACP. (2021). NAACP HISTORY: W.E.B. DUBOIS. Retrieved from NAACP: https://www.naacp.org/naacp-history-w-e-b-dubois/