SOC231H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: The Talented Tenth, Double Consciousness, 18 Months
Document Summary
The english landed in jamestown, virginia, in 1607. 12 years later, the colonists began importing africans to be enslaved. In his first book, du bois documents these historic events and the lengthy battle in the united states to outlaw the trafficking of humans. First sociologist to understand that while slavery had existed in other times and places in the world, the transatlantic slave trade was unlike any other form. Remarked that "the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line" During the 19th and early 20th century, most scientists and essayists writing about "negroes" denied the very humanity of african americans. Du bois stood virtually alone in his quest to sociologically explain the complex, intertwined dimensions of race and class. Not all sociologists consider him to be a significant social theorist. This perception stems from two somewhat contradictory beliefs: Du bois"s work is perceived as being too empirical and theoretically narrow to qualify him as a theorist.
