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Introduction to the 1996 Edition by Elijah Anderson
- University of Pennsylvania Press
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INTRODUCTION TO THE 1996 EDITION OF THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO Elijah Anderson The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study by W.E.B. DuBois was originally published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 1899. One of the first works to combine the use of urban ethnography , social history, and descriptive statistics, it has become a classic work in the social science literature. For that reason alone it is an important study that deserves to be read by students of sociology and others interested in the development of the discipline in particular or in American intellectual history in general. W.E.B. DuBois is a founding father of American sociology,but, unfortunately, neither this masterpiece nor much of DuBois's other work has been given proper recognition; in fact, it is possible to advance through a graduate program in sociology in this country without ever hearing about DuBois. It is my hope that this reprint edition will help rectify a situation undoubtedly rooted in the racial relationships of the era in which the book was first published. This fine book, however, is no mere museum piece. Both the issues it raises and the evolution of DuBois's own thinking -which can be traced between the lines-about the problems of black integration into American society sound strikingly contemporary. Among the intriguing aspects of The Philadelphia Negro are what it says about the author at the time, about race in urban America at the time, and about social science at the time, but even more important is the fact that many of his observations can be made-in fact are made-by investigators today. Indeed, the sobering consequences of America's refusal to address the race problem honestly, which DuBois pre- x Introduction dieted almost a hundred years ago, now haunt all Americans with a renewed intensity 130 years after emancipation. The enduring relevance of DuBois's analysis would thus argue for a reexamination of his work. DuBois himself was a complex, fascinating man whose background shaped his point of view for The Philadelphia Negro . To appreciate fully his perspective, it is necessary to understand his early life, particularly his sheltered childhood, the unconventional way-for a black child-he was raised, and his introduction as a young man into the social and racial realities of American life. William Edward Burghardt DuBois was born on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, a small but prosperous mill town in the Berkshire Mountains. The few blacks in the area worked mostly as domestics in homes or summer resorts, while the factory jobs were held by Irish, German, and Czech Catholics. His father exited young DuBois's life before he turned two, and his mother supported the family with the help of well-to-do town residents, who provided both odd jobs and outright charity, eventually including a rented house much nicer than she could have afforded on her own. The opportunity to mix with the elite of the town, whose sons in general accepted him as their playmate, allowed DuBois to consider himself at least marginally a part of upper-class society while separating him from the children of immigrant mill laborers, whose social position was actually much nearer his own. He was thus able to grow up feeling more privileged than oppressed. By his own account a child of "keen sensitiveness," he encountered relatively little discrimination, partly because he was able to avoid situations in which he sensed discrimination might occur and partly because his superior intellectual capabilities were genuinely admired. At the same time, he absorbed the culture of proper New Englanders and learned to be reserved in his thoughts and emotions and decorous in his comportment. This "habit of repression" later hampered his relations with more gregarious members of his own race. .150.98] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 12:21 GMT) Introduction Xl DuBois attended the local high school, taking the college preparatory course as suggested by the principal, Frank Alvin Hosmer, who went on to become president of a missionary college in Hawaii; his school books, which had to be purchased, were, at Hosmer's request, paid for by the mother of one of his wealthy friends.' And odd jobs were again found, for DuBois himself this time, enabling him to earn outside school hours some of the income he sacrificed by pursuing an education instead of a steady job. Upon graduating he had his heart set on going to Harvard, but neither the academic standards of his school...