W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919-1963

After the first few sentences of this masterpiece by David Levering Lewis, it is obvious why his account of the second half of the life of Du Bois won the Pulitzer Prize For Biography. Lewis possesses a writing style that has smoothness to it. Page after page the life of W. E. B. Du Bois and the thoughts of the man seem real enough to be your own (provided you can accept the controversy of a figure as great as Du Bois). Lewis does his best to be objective in his account of Du Bois, or I should say, as objective as is possible for a historian. Lewis is unafraid to show the human side of Du Bois; the side that engaged in regular extra-marital affairs, and the side that overlooked the atrocities committed by such variances as the governments of Japan, Stalin and Mao. Du Bois is portrayed as genuine from the start. He genuinely wanted to help his people, the African Americans, achieve the franchise and self-determination. He wanted to not only achieve this for the American Africans, but for world Africans, people of color and those of Nordic or Aryan origin, in that order. Ultimately he WAS an anti-imperialist. He was against exploitation of all peoples by Capitalistic domination. He was all for eradicating poverty wherever it may be found as he believed that to be one of the underlying causes of racism, and ultimately, war. In the efforts of this noble pursuit, Du Bois was open to any system available that would allow the eradication of racism and poverty. He refused, however, to be confined to a box as Lewis portrayed in the astute observation that he was "A thinker whose obligation was to be dissatisfied continually with his own thoughts and those of others". His study of Marxism came relatively late in life, but Lewis is very fair in his portrayal of the revolution in Russia and how it would have affected the mind of Du Bois. Here was a mind looking for a way out, and he saw in the Russian, and later the Chinese, revolutions the first establishments of governments whose primary mission was stated to eradicate poverty and provide literacy, free health care, and the full benefits of the means of production to everyone. To state whether or not these governments actually achieved this misses the point. Du Bois was looking for a better way for his people, and did not restrict his thinking to a purely "American" line. He even went so far as to join the Communist Party USA in his 90's. He believed that Capitalism would ultimately destroy its people and eventually itself. As an alternative, he believed the only way to be one where the lower classes of society had the power. As an observer of politics in America, he was ahead of his time in realizing that the two-party system would never work. He deplored the fact that business had so much say in government and said that a citizenry governed by Democrats and Republicans, both of which were controlled by the rich, was NOT a democracy. Lewis takes the time to show that the

I am impressed with the level of detail that the author went to, in order to paint a complete picture of Du Bois. Du Bois himself lived in a remarkable time in American history (being born a few years after slavery ended and dying months before Dr. Martin Luther King's march on Washington) Lewis captures the evolution of the time and the character of the day with his detailed portrayl of Du Bois' life, and the major events that captured the nations attention during that time.

W.E.B. DuBois was born 2 years after slavery was abolished, and died two years before the wide ranging civil rights acts of 1965 were enacted. During this century, America was transformed from a largely rural nation whose economy depended on agricultural production (not the least of which was the cotton grown in the south by slaves) to an urban nation with the world's largest economy, built on industrial production. Throughout most of this transformation, DuBois was the loudest and clearest voice proclaiming the injustices suffered by the nation's Blacks.DuBois voice took many forms. He was the nation's leading Black Sociologist, Political Scientist and Hstorian scholar for most of his life. He was among the giants, regardless of race, in each of these fields. This alone would have been remarkable, even had he not had to struggle against the burden of racism every step of the way. What makes DuBois' life truly amazing (an over used word, which is fully justified here) is that in addition to his academic leadership, DuBois was a newspaper columnist, speaker, and founded dozens of popular mass organizations (most famously, the NAACP). He was quite literally the mentor of virtually every leading Black scholar, lawyer, business man, politician, etc. that followed.Surprisingly, given the transformation of the rest of society, DuBois retained his leadership role in the country as his many competitors and detractors faded--Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, and Walter White, among others.Lewis has produced a masterful biography of this complex, vastly under rated man. Lewis keeps his writing interesting, as he traces the twists and turns DuBois was forced to follow in his battle against racism. He began with a traditional middle class, elite (which DuBois dubbed "the talented tenth") analysis which urged the white power structure to recognize that elite blacks were as crucial to the nation's future as were the elite of the white population. He ended as a communist, victim of McCarthy, having given up all hope of democratic change, living in exile in Ghana, where he was finally accorded the unstinting respect he was denied during the first 90 years of his life in America.Lewis gives DuBois final years short shrift. Lewis seems to agree with most of the contemporary civil rights leaders, who thought DuBois had simply lost his marbles in his dotage. Lewis therefore skims over the last two decades of DuBois life in a few all too brief pages.I beg to differ. I believe that DuBois' thinking was an entirely accurate reflection of the frustrations he had encountered. As Lewis hints at, but fails to explore, DuBois tried every conceivable means of combating America's deep seated racism. He was rejected at every turn. Despite apparent victories, many would have said that the plight of Blacks at the end of DuBois' long life was not very much improved over their plight at the beginning of his life. The white controlled governments, universities,

With volume two Lewis completes his magisterial work chronicling the life and times of the controversial W. E. B. Du Bois, and this second volume is every bit as fascinating and scholarly as the first one which won the Pulitzer Prize. This volume follows Du Bois' descent from a founder and spokesman for the NAACP to his self-imposed exile in Ghana in 1963. Throughout the journey Lewis thoroughly develops the changing viewpoints Du Bois put forth as solutions to the problems of racial discrimination and the powerlessness of people of color in this country and around the world. From an integrationist (who at the same time criticized the assimilationist attitude of Frederick Douglas), Du Bois moved into the Pan-Africa movement (although he disliked and opposed Marcus Garvey and his movement), and eventually supported Black separatism before settling on socialism and Marxism in the later years of his life. His "petty bourgeois" ideas concerning Black economic separatism were, of course, vehemently criticized by his Marxist friends. Many believed "Du Bois was a romantic, a racialist, and an old man given to dreams of a 'shopkeepers paradise' as a solution to the depression." Although Lewis soft-pedals Du Bois' deep character flaws which caused him to be constantly at odds with others who were "on his side" in the fight for racial equality, and permitted him to excuse the murder and outrages of Stalinism and the Japanese military aggression and ethnic cleansing in Asia, the author clearly reveals these facts of Du Bois' life. Lewis reveals how Du Bois' mind became so poisoned with a visceral hatred of White power, and its adjunct Western capitalism, that he eventually reached the point where he could look the other way or excuse the outrages committed by peoples or regimes opposed to Western interests (which he never seemed to quite grasp were really his own interests and those of the Negro in America). In the end Du Bois seemed opposed to almost any policy his country adopted and he supported any force in the world (be it Pan-Africanism, Bolshevism, Japanese militarism, or Chinese communism) that opposed the interests of the "White governments." Thus, did a brilliant social critic end up a confused mind destined to play the role of a pawn for regimes opposed to Western interests. Lewis is very good at highlighting Du Bois' conflict with Marcus Garvey of whom he draws a great character sketch. He points out that Garvey's early followers were often poor, less educated, and often of West Indian origins, while the more "elitist" Du Bois circulated among, and pretended to speak for, the Talented Tenth of the African American people. Du Bois was an elitist and intellectual who could not stomach the irrational pronouncements of Marcus Garvey. Du Bois' viewpoint was that of the Black urban, educated, professional. Lewis is also very strong with detail concerning Du Bois' widening differences with the NAACP leadership and the association's approa

By his own admission, David Levering Lewis' first installment on the life of W.E.B. DuBois was "ambitiously subtitled". His "Biography of a Race", which followed DuBois from birth to age 50, lived up to its appointment, garnering among others, the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1994. And while his latest work is less loftily titled, it is no less worthy of the acclaim accorded the first.DuBois, intellectual giant, master propoagandist, patron of the storied Harlem Renaissance and Co-Founder of the NAACP, was indisputably one of the most influential African Americans of the frst half of the 20th century. Lewis opens the book (which continues chronicling DuBois's life from 1919 through to his death at 95, in 1963)detailing DuBois' ascent to power as the pre-eminent "Race Leader". Almost from the moment Dubois received such recognition, he found himself under siege; if not from the disciples of his sometime bitter rival, Booker T. Washington (who died in 1915), then from at the hands of his colleagues in the leadership of the NAACP, or the upwardly mobile young adults whom he doubtless had in mind when he coined the phrase, "Talented Tenth". Lewis's narrative fairly crackles with tension, setting the tone for the rest of the book.Lewis also shows the reader the sometimes contradictory aspects found in the life of this most complicated man: often deeply suspicious, yet generous enough with his research to have indiscriminately shared sensitive information with foreign agents from nations friendly and not; a fierce Pan-Aficanist with a distinct love for things continental; an ardent feminist who subjugated his wife, and served as mentor and paramour with a host of his protegees. Again Lewis's deft pen, along with a sensitivity to the paradoxes portrays DuBois as a hero with a tragic flaw.Disillusioned by betrayal from the "Talented Tenth" - whom he repudiates in a "Memorial Address", having his relevance and authority all but dismissed, and dealing with the loss of friends and his wife, a deeply embittered DuBois chooses to live out the rest of his days in West Africa. His death on the morning of the historic 1963 March on Washington, is epic in its poetic poignancy, and again, Lewis's hand lends beautiful brush strokes to the canvas of this most impressive man.This book is assiduously researched, (700 pages, including more than 100 pages of notes), yet one never feels a sense of overwhelm. It is powerfully beautiful and a must read for any who seek to learn of the birth of the 20th century American Civil Rights struggle. With his astounding "W.E.B. DuBois, Fight for Equality and the American Century" David Levering Lewis has exceeded his monumental first part of the biography. Buy this book before it wins for Lewis a second Pulitzer!