James Lee Dickey: An Analysis of One African-American's Leadership in Jim Crow Texas

An American or a Negro?

Du Bois’ evolving philosophy created conflict within himself. He wrote in Souls of Black Folks “One ever feels his twoness-an American, a Negro.” He sought equality for blacks in America and believed it was owed to them as men, yet he also felt a separation that Du Bois called “the veil” – a wall of separation. In 1915, Du Bois wrote a Crisis editorial “The Immediate Program of the American Negro” saying, “Conscious self-realization and self-direction is the watchword of modern man and the first article in the program of any group that will survive must be the aim, equality, and power among men.” He suggested that Negroes should have their own building and loan associations, co-ops for agriculture and industry, and structured charitable contributions. In 1917, he conceded that Negroes in America would have to join the white economy en masse rather than separately due to the individual’s vulnerability in the white working class.
 

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