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“to proceed as if the first generation of black sociologist emerged from Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s requires skipping over an entire generation of black sociologists mentored and trained by W.E.B. Du Bois. The historical obscurity of Work, Wright, and Haynes is striking, given their early contributions and outstanding intellectual achievements” (p. 62-63)

“Farmville provided an exemplary model for future research…This little research gem served as the model for many later studies. In January 1901, the Department of Labor published four studies by other investigators modeled on Du Bois’ Farmville, Va. Report, and a fifth study based on Du Bois’ theme of the Atlanta investigation of black self-betterment” (p. 67-68)

“This first generation of black graduates from white sociology departments looked toward Atlanta, where Du Bois was engaged in pioneering empirical research not being conducted elsewhere and valued Du Bois’s approach over that of white sociologist.”  (p. 71)

My apologies...finding just two was difficult!

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Work, a protégé of Du Bois researched crimes of Black people in northern and southern cities and found that “crime rates were determined not by racial traits but by social conditions” (p.71). Similarly, Kendi noted that “researchers have found a much stronger and clearer correlation between violent-crime levels and unemployment levels than between violent crime and race” (p.79). Both Kendi and Work attempted to dismantle the racial prejudice that Black people are more violent and animalistic in their behaviors than others through empirical research and evidence, not conjecture.

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“Clearly there exists no sustained analysis of how such important and pioneering figures could be erased from the collective memory of sociology for a century. Yet this erasure speaks volumes about the power of racism in American science” (p. 72). Given the longstanding and collective rebuff of Du Bois’ work, what led to the existing wholesale shift in perceptions of Du Bois as an eminent sociologist?

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“The first ‘erased generation’ of black sociologists produced scholarship germane to the Du Bois-Atlanta school that provided sociological analyses of blacks in both the North and the South. Schools of thought cannot develop if necessary resources are not available. The publication of groundbreaking research advancing new theoretical frameworks and methodologies is the driving force opening up possibilities for new schools of thought to develop.” (p.66)

“The Negro Artisan was a groundbreaking sociological work because it produced empirical data and arguments that contradicted popular claims of the day…Above all, it revealed that it was possible for a team of researchers—all black—to take to the field, collect data systematically, and produce a master sociological work.” (p. 78)

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How do modern day Sociology Departments and Programs address the scientific racism that was so deeply embedded in the founding of the discipline? Is the work of Du Bois, Wright, Work, and Haynes (and the many others) taught as scholarship or are their contributions limited to the history of the discipline?

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Du Bois' focus was on disproving biological racism, the notion that Kendi describes as biologically inferior, and they both utilize data and scholarship as their primary vehicle: “Du Bois and his colleagues were convinced that careful, systematic research would disprove the ideology of African American inferiority and would undermine the system of racial oppression predicated on it.” (p. 67)

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At the dawn of the twentieth century, the power of American racism was greater than scientific merit in determining which scholars would be recognized as sociological pioneers and which would be denied.

But despite it all, the Du Bois–Atlanta school, led by a pioneering black sociologist and his researchers, made its own, more positive mark on the discipline, even though its influence was forced to travel subterranean routes before bursting into mainstream recognition a century later.

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“And I did begin to terminate part of myself – for the better.  I began to silence one half of the war within me, the dual between antiracism and assimilation that W.E.B. Du Bois gave voice to, and started embracing the struggle toward a single conscious-ness of antiracism” (Kendi, 2019)

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Why did Washington put all his effort into Tuskegee Institute and did so little to help the Atlanta school? Was there not space enough for two schools? Why was it one or the other?

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"'The Negro Problem' - that condition which is peculiar to Negroes, and common to them - is rather found in the attitudes of the white race toward the Negro; an attitude of a majority which seeks to shut out a minority from the enjoyment of the whole social and economic life" (pg.70).

"Schools of thought cannot develop if necessary resources an unavailable. The publication of groundbreaking research advancing new theoretical frameworks and methodologies is the driving force opening up possibilities for new schools of thought to develop. Rival interpretations of phenomena differing foundationally from existing paradigms are the hallmark of new intellectual schools" (pg.66).

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George Edmund Haynes, Richard R. Wright Jr., and Monroe Work all initially desired to enter the ministry as a method for advocating racial change. These men are considered to be part of the first generation of black sociologists. Both of Kendi's parents initially sought to advocate for racial equality through similar channels, he references their shared connection to religion several times throughout the book. In the end it would seem that all parties sought avenues that were removed from religion to challenge the existing system of racial oppression.

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On Page 67 Aldon describes the methodology used in the 'Farmville' study, stating that it "examined the social organizations of a small rural community in Virginia, including its class structure and its layers of community institutions, and probed the culture and subjective worlds of the black population, concluding that the people possessed hope and optimism for the future".

Based on the data that was collected (wages, family income, budgets, property value, societies, slums, gambling, liquor, local prostitution, group/social life, etc.), I am curious to learn how Du Bois came to this determination. How does a sociological researcher measure hope or optimism? What assessment tools did he utilize to develop an understanding of these concepts within the community? There is likely an easy explanation that isn't included in the reading.

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1. “The data allowed Du Bois and his collaborators to reach important conclusions regarding black artisans. First, they were not becoming extinct: their numbers were increasing in certain regions while declining in others. Second, industrial schools were important to the training of artisans but were often too costly and ineffective. Liberal arts education was crucial because artisans needed to understand the world as well as build things upon it. This was not a finding that gave comfort to Booker T. Washington’s hopes of expanding his leadership by building more schools concerned exclusively with industrial education. Finally, Du Bois found that white racism, especially within labor unions, was a major barrier limiting the choices and careers of black skilled workers.” (Morris, 2015, pg. 78)

1. “Du Bois’s scientific school of sociology incorporated both novel theory and distinct methods. The school’s conception that blacks were not an inferior race and that racial categories were socially constructed challenged the scientific racism of the era. The school’s multimethod approach generated quantitative and qualitative data to assess its theoretical positions. This approach contrasted sharply with those used at other universities, where it was common to privilege only one methodological technique. The insistence on scientific rigor and exact measurement of social phenomena also set Du Bois’s school apart from other sociological enterprises that did not explicitly confront methodological issues. Du Bois and his colleagues were convinced that careful, systematic research would disprove the ideology of African American inferiority and would undermine the system of racial oppression predicated on it.” (Morris, 2015, pg. 67)

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“Wright provided painstaking statistical and qualitative data for his analysis of black Pennsylvanians. The data revealed there was no “Negro Problem”: “The ‘Negro Problem’—that condition which is peculiar to Negroes, and common to them—is rather found in the attitudes of the white race toward the Negro; an attitude of a majority which seeks to shut out a minority from the enjoyment of the whole social and economic life.”44 “(Morris, 2015, pg. 70)

The statement echoes the sentiment of Kendi, that racism in America is due to the attitudes of whites, not due to qualities of blackness.

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How did the academic community reconcile former slaves obtaining doctoral degrees from top universities with their ideas of blacks as a scientifically inferior race?