https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur Abdullahi Ali, Susan Wiggin, Jennifer Chace Michelle Conners en-us 2021-11-11 13:27:14 UTC 2025-10-08 15:10:50 UTC hello@padlet.com jennifer947 https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1889714624 Du Bois, like Kendi, saw that inequality of the situation and circumstances of Blacks was not due to their natural inferiority, but instead was the product of racist systems. Kendi, having the benefit of a century or so of passed time, has developed a theory of change that is a bit different from that held by Du Bois, which is described on pg. 59. Du Bois felt sure that once white Americans knew the true, racism would sunset and Blacks would be lifted up to equality. Kendi is less optimistic about white's ability to move past their self interest, and he doesn't understand racism as primarily about the white belief of Black's natural inferiority. He proposes that white people's minds are unlikely to be changed by scientific data because racist systems are there quite purposefully to protect something dear—the benefits whites derive from it. He sees self interest as the progenitor of racist policies, not misunderstanding of the facts or even raw stupidity, as Du Bois seems to think. Kendi's understanding is that the racist ideas sprang from self interest, as a cover story, and unless self interest can be eliminated, Kendi believes we need to focus on changing the policies - the "economic and social factors" Morris writes about on pg. 58. If we can call Kendi an optimist, it is in his belief that once antiracist policies are passed, people will feel and see the benefits, which will in time lead to fewer racist attitudes. ]]> 2021-11-14 22:31:40 UTC https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1889714624 jennifer947 https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1889718342 1. (pg. 57) "Though stung by the University of Pennsylvania's racism and rejected by all major white universities, Du Bois accepted the professorship at Atlanta University with the intent of pursing his lifelong goals."
2. (pg. 61) "Although Du Bois provided the intellectual energy leading to the "takeoff" phase of this scientific project, his initiative fit into a framework that had already been developed."]]> 2021-11-14 22:37:06 UTC https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1889718342 jennifer947 https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1889724527 I wondered about how the white universities justified educating Black students but not hiring Black professors and researchers. Was it simple economics?: The students were paying customers and paying customers would not be turned away, while hiring was another story. Was it a bit more complicated but still economic?: White students would not pay to learn from Black professors, and the inferred quality of education provided would be lowered thereby reducing applications and therefore income? Or was it that the professors at places like Harvard felt they were "doing good" by educating Blacks who were "pulling themselves up by their bootstraps" by seeking to be educated by whites, but that that desire for education by their superiors could not confer equality to Blacks? This argument looks like white professors not stomaching working with Blacks as equals, but being happy to bestow their wisdom on an inferior. Or maybe something else entirely?]]> 2021-11-14 22:47:10 UTC https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1889724527 michelleconners https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1892946445

…”try as I might…the institution would have no sociology, even though I offered to teach it on my own time. (p. 56)” This was his experience at Wilberforce and it seems that overall he had a very restricted career here but he remained there only briefly, two years. However, he continued to make his way around the academic world.

“More than ever do I feel that God has raised you up at this juncture in our history, as a race, to speak to the intelligence of the country on our behalf” (p. 60). I liked this quote because it shows the impact that Du Bois had with his contemporaries.

]]> 2021-11-16 02:50:35 UTC https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1892946445 michelleconners https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1892947948 Du Bois’s desire to pursue sociology and to create sociology departments at universities was to combat racism. Specifically he wanted to “combat scientific racism” (p. 55). This primarily pairs up with Kendi’s chapter on biology where he highlights social Darwinism and other means people used to “prove” that blacks were lesser human beings.]]> 2021-11-16 02:51:17 UTC https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1892947948 michelleconners https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1892949376 On page 60 it says that, “Young scholars began publishing their own studies using Du Bois’s work as the model”. My question is, are these “young scholars” are white, black, or both? I feel they are at least predominantly white because it mentions they went to Ivy League schools. ]]> 2021-11-16 02:51:53 UTC https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1892949376 https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1917056263 1. "Du Bois was not the first to advocate the necessity of collecting and marshaling empirical data to disprove claims of inferiority promoted by white social scientists. Pioneering black intellectuals had believed that empirical data could sustain a counterargument that sociological and economic factors, not defective genes or culture, were determinants of race inequality" .
2.  "In all three communities, systematic discrimination meant “that the northern negro receives less wages for his work and pays more rent for worse houses than white workmen, and that it is not altogether a matter of fitness that confines his work chiefly to common labor and menial service".]]> 2021-11-29 04:04:14 UTC https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1917056263 https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1917065814 One specific connection is the discussion on the conditions of blacks that is the direct impact of racism. Institutional racism for example led to under-funded black colleges that did not have have resources to conduct researches independently. Kendi discussed how government created policies that intentionally worsened the conditions of blacks, undermined black talent and discriminated black institutions. ]]> 2021-11-29 04:12:45 UTC https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1917065814 https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1917077713 Morris writes, "Du Bois faced the bitter truth that racism stood between his ambitions and landing a professorship at a white university. Like other accomplished black scholars of the period, he could hope to gain employment only at a black university". Does that mean black academics could only get hired at a black college? ]]> 2021-11-29 04:23:29 UTC https://padlet.com/jeffreybeaudry/8rw0rgy86f1qeaur/wish/1917077713