Sociological imagination
The essay The Souls of Folks is a classical work done by William Edward Burghardt Du Bois in relation to the blacks. Du Bois was one of the American Socialists, civil rights activists, Pan-Africanist, an editor and an author. The novel was published in the early 1903 and it contains several other essays. In the development of these works, Du Bois really concentrated the ideas from his involvement as an African American in the American social life. From outside its much-known meaning in the society, the novel, The Souls of Black Folk, does also withhold some very important position in the social life as one of the past tasks in this field of sociology[1]. In every section in this novel, it starts with some pairs of epigraphs. For example, the text from a poem done mainly by the European poets and musical score of the spiritual which the author, Du Bois, explains in the foreword as in relation to the African American past. It is very important to note that Du Bois prefers to exclude the lyrics into the spirituals that mostly serve to clarify any arguments in either chapter.
Brief summary of the sociological imagination
The Souls of Black Folk novel is basically a work in the African American literature which up to this date is thought of as one of the vital sections in African-American and the sociological history. In this kind of collection of an essay, Du Bois puts across two major terms which have advanced to theoretical field’s study which are the veil and the double consciousness. On the double consciousness, this is basically a belief which mostly the African-American from the United States thrive with two contradictory identities which cannot entirely be put together. Firstly, the most important factor to the black kind of understanding is the black identity. Secondly, the next important factor is the American identity which is an identity that the blacks were born only because of the past and the historical slavery remnants. Having the ideology of these double consciousness, this is the veil which basically explains that the African-American thriving understanding occurs behind the veil. While they are mostly able to get what mostly life is all about for individuals outside the group and inside the group.
It is simply very hard for people who are whites to get what kind of life the blacks go through all their life. This novel by Du Bois explains the deeper truth to the general world which lacks an understanding of what is behind the veil. Du Bois presents the reader with situations which the blacks pass through during the time of reconstruction[2]. The first essay describes clearly for the reader to experience oneself within the veil, recognition of the discriminations he/she would experience only because of the skin. The second essay, the author outlines that the problems faced in the twentieth century are the problems to do with the color line.
Combining both of these cases assists Du Bois in getting the basis for the remaining part of the essay where the author also analyzes the marginalization and the stratification procedures which are present due to the fact that the invisible lines still are present. Coming to the third essay, Du Bois gives a case study of the rise of Brooker T. Washington to being prominent in the American world including how his successes were meaningful to the African Americans. Instead of recognizing that the oppressiveness from the Negro was the main idea behind his lack of being educated, Washington thinks that the Negro had to focus very much on the education for them to achieve the ultimate goals of success. In the fourth essay, Du Bois starts to explain the kind of experience he got as a teacher in the southern United States[3]. After quitting his career as a school teacher, the town in which he had taught became so industrialized. This industrialization mow becomes the new obsessive way of making wealth.
People from the south who had previously relied on being simple now were all inclined with the desires of being wealthy with materials which are thanks to the industrialization processes. This kind of changes which were brought by industrialization had a meaning that the United States had to apply a more experienced workforce. In the next essay, giving training to the blacks, Du Bois describes how well the blacks had the skills and which would be very helpful and useful for the industrialization process. But this presented another set of problems, the blacks had been so submissive during slavery so the training was required to provide more education to the black man.
Another part in this novel is the part where Du Bois lost his son at infancy. This really devastated him and all his happiness came down into sorrows and sadness. Finally, the collection ends with the hope that everything in life is not lost and the future holds the best. The main theme of this essay is to know how development progressed the black Americans living in the south during industrialization. Having a religion and also being educated, this now helps to equate with the Americans in almost every level[4]. Contrary, the real fear of what will be the final results or what is basically behind the veil is really difficult to comprehend.
Connection between the sociological imaginations
Sociological imagination connects to the essay The Souls of Black Folk in a way that it tries to explain that the world today is basically an effect from the historical world part of it[5]. The blacks received a lot of mistreating and deaths together with being discriminated in the society because of slavery. Slavery in the United States has always been the most difficult thing in the minds of the common black man and this influences racism in the real sense. African Americans have been forced to live in their own cities and even own nothing except from maybe what seems useless in the eyes of the Americans. Slavery affected most parts of the world with blacks being shipped from their motherland, Africa, and being used to do the hard duties in the American world. Duties such as cleaning, sex tools, tending to animals, fighters and cookers were the kinds of jobs that they were given. The author of this novel had the sociological imagination since most of these kinds of slavery activities defined the common blacks. The coming of industrialization really helped the blacks get out of slavery and have something they could call theirs and be comfortable. It came a time when most of the blacks could never attend any social function due to their skin color. This kind of discrimination affects a person both physically and psychologically making that person prone anger and make indecisive decisions generally. Working on the large plantations in the south daily with no rest or pay was inhuman but the Americans saw nothing wrong with doing such.
Slavery started long ago in the late 1600s and went on until the south underwent industrialization which brought it down slightly but today several minor slavery cases are being experienced in the world[6]. The blacks were supposed to work on the plantations for a full day from when the sun rose to when it became dark. Some slaves were trained to do certain jobs which allowed them to shift immediately a chance to being free arose[7]. Others decided to be so submissive and this called for other inhuman illegal actions that saw some even lose their lives. The training was so strict and practical and never theory since the Americans were convinced that in any one day that they involve the books, the blacks would leave the jobs immediately and teaching them practically was the only option left. Du Bois has applied sociological imagination in the sense that he had taught the south United States for a while. This being a territory where the blacks dominated made it possible for some of the blacks to open up their minds and think of what they could do to enslave themselves from the Americans. For example, Du Bois has explained in the essay that understanding the ways of a common black man, get into his shoes and have the same experience[8]. The harsh kind of life discouraged the black Americans against associating with the whites since the whites seemed as they never cared about the blacks lives. For the case of Washington, a leader for the blacks who negotiated that education is the only way out in life connects to the following events where the blacks now had the opportunity to create their own schools and jump out of slavery.
Connection to own experience
Synthesis to on experience ignites the need for a social mutual understanding between the different colors. Being of a different color to another individual should not raise any unwanted speculations. The America we know of today still has some remnants of people living in the past. Slavery ended centuries back but what people do not understand is that slavery was replaced by the word racism. In the just ended United States of America elections, racism ruled the elections and this creates an unethical kind of lifestyle to the minds of the affected individuals. People talking of deporting others because of their skin color is a thing of the past which most people do not understand. It is even better to live with different people in order to enhance each other’s knowledge and minds as well. Basically, living together harmoniously is not a hard thing to achieve but a serious step the victimizers should understand. For example, songs and videos were being produced in the United States by people concerned about the rising level of racism. Looking at the essay by Du Bois, it is significantly clear that the generation that was there during the colonial times never had the privilege of experiencing smooth life but they fought to uphold their stand that being black is just but a simple matter. Discrimination even in the universities is still very rampant. Currently, in the United States there are more schools for the whites than there are for the blacks and in places where there are American students, the number of black students keeps diminishing each day. Street life is what the blacks have been put through by the Americans in the name of being pure.
Conclusion
Sociological imagination is an evitable ideology since the future is being determined by the current. What drives a right minded human being is the urge to make tomorrow a better place for the future generations. The freedom that the current blacks are experiencing in the United States in as a result of the many battles the first parents when fighting against social discrimination especially on the basis of color. Humanity has struggled to uphold the dignity and entrusts a fellow humanity with the same trust but this seems to be moving south in some countries. Some of the super power countries, there has been more deaths of the minority group. This can be attributed to the fact that marginalization on the basis of skin color has not ended and it is far from ending. Citizens turning on fellow citizens is the kind of lifestyle being experienced in the twenty-first century. Countries such as south Africa has in the recent been on the rise in cases to do with racism after more than a decade of people leaving in peace now they are turning on each other fighting for the same resources as in the past[9]. Du Bois in his last quotes in the novel The Souls of the Black Folk hoped that the world would be a better place today but evidently, change in humanity is difficult.
Works cited
Beck, Roger B. 2000. The history of South Africa. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
Du Bois, W. E. B. 1994. The souls of Black folk. New York: Dover. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=115 4430.
Kellogg, William O. 2010. Barron's AP United States history. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational Series.
[1] Du Bois, W. E. B. 1994. The souls of Black folk. New York: Dover. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1154430.
[2] Du Bois, W. E. B. 1994. The souls of Black folk. New York: Dover. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1154430.
[3] Du Bois, W. E. B. 1994. The souls of Black folk. New York: Dover. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1154430.
[4] Du Bois, W. E. B. 1994. The souls of Black folk. New York: Dover. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1154430.
[5] Du Bois, W. E. B. 1994. The souls of Black folk. New York: Dover. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1154430.
[6] Beck, Roger B. 2000. The history of South Africa. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
[7] Du Bois, W. E. B. 1994. The souls of Black folk. New York: Dover. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1154430.
[8] Kellogg, William O. 2010. Barron's AP United States history. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational Series.
[9] Beck, Roger B. 2000. The history of South Africa. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
