DUE BY NOON MARCH 13TH — Your response to Edward J. Blum, W. E. B. DuBois: American Prophet. Please do both of the below.
1) Write out a question (or questions) that you would like to ask the author based on your reading of W. E. B. DuBois: American Prophet. We will ask the author some of those questions when he visits us in class via Skype.
2) In 1-2 pages, respond informally to the following: Though W. E. B. DuBois professed (for a good deal of his life) to be an agnostic or atheist, author Edward J. Blum portrays him as an “American prophet.” In what ways was Du Bois a “prophet”? Based on your reading of Blum and “Of the Sorrow Songs” and “A Litany of Atlanta” (AR, 329-340), how would you describe the nature of DuBois’s work? How do you assess Du Bois’s life and work based on the introduction provided by Blum?
Note: here is an interesting interview with the author that will be of interest:
10 Questions for author Edward J. Blum
Note: since Du Bois’s most classic essay “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” is not included in our reading, we will be going over it in class; click on the link for the full essay. Here is its most famous passage, which we’ll be going over in class:
After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,—a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. . . .
Race, Religion, and Power in American History 
Meghan Cardillo
Reader Response for March 13, 2013
W.E.B. Du Bois
1. Obviously, based off of reading W.E.B. Du Bois: American Prophet, Edward J. Blum has great knowledge of religion in history. He clearly shows the various ties between race and religion and how Du Bois was involved. So I was wondering, how was it that Blum became interested in such a topic and what inspired him to write his book?
2.
W.E.B Du Bois professed to be an agnostic or atheist, but Blum portrays him as an “American prophet.” Personally, when I read through W.E.B. Du Bois: American Prophet, “Of the Sorrow Songs,” and “A Litany of Atlanta,” I felt as if there was always a religious belief deep inside him. I see Du Bois as an “American prophet” because of the way he addressed everything he spoke or wrote about. I also noticed how the word “hope” was used frequently throughout.
For instance, in “Of the Sorrow Songs,” Du Bois states that “through all the sorrow of the Sorrow Songs there breathes a hope – a faith in the ultimate justice of things. The minor cadences of despair change often to triumph and calm confidence,” (page 335). Du Bois then goes on to question if “such a hope is justified” and if the “Sorrow Songs sing true,” (335). To me, questioning faith and hope is something that everyone goes through. I think that it is something that truly gets someone to believe in what they are feeling or totally make them go in the opposite direction and believe that everything that has been said has been false. On page 336, Du Bois states that “if somewhere in this whirl and chaos of things there dwells Eternal Good, pitiful yet masterful, then anon in His good time America shall rend the Veil and the prisoned shall go free.” This statement proves to be one that shows how Du Bois was a prophet. He spoke in such a way that makes others want to believe that there will be a time that God intervenes and lets the prisoners go free.
Du Bois was so wrapped up in religion that it even showed in his works. In fact, Edward J. Blum gives examples of Du Bois’ faith. Blum states that “just as in his short stories and poems, Du Bois saturated his full-length novels with religious images, characters, and ideas,” (page 163). In his works, Du Bois included “messianic characters, apocalyptic nightmares, and heavenly dreams,” (163). To me, he did exactly what any other prophet would do. He essentially spoke of God and His word through his novels. Blum also points out that Du Bois’ inspiration for “The Revelation” actually came from the biblical Revelation of John. Although John’s Revelation “discussed terrible horrors plaguing the earth, including earthquakes, diseases, and pestilence, it was a work of hope,” (page 42). Since Du Bois used this as inspiration, his “Revelation” and Dusk of Dawn were both works of hope, as well.
In “Litany of Atlanta,” I felt as if the people who prayed had nothing but faith and hope in the Lord. The second line of the litany, in fact, humbly states, “listen to us, Thy children: our faces dark with doubt are made a mockery in Thy sanctuary. With uplifted hands we front Thy heaven, O God, crying,” (page 338). This line of prayer shows how Du Bois is a prophet because of how he essentially lets go and lets God be in control. After reading all three works, I would have to agree with Blum in saying Du Bois was a prophet. The nature of Du Bois’ worked always seemed, to me, to be very hopeful and willing to let God be in command. He also seemed to be, in a sense, praising God. W.E.B. Du Bois was truly an “American prophet.”
Before beginning to read Blum’s book on Du Bois and while thinking about religion, slavery and demographics prior to the Civil War, I came to better understand the connection of religion and slavery not only as submission for slaves but as license for a slave society. Having only recently seen Schindler’s List on television for the first time 2-3 weeks ago, and reflecting on the sociopathic concentration camp commander and pawn of Schindler, I realized that while this man would still have been a sociopath and most likely a sadist and murderer it was Nazi ideology that gave his actions legitimacy. Without the Nazi ideology of anti-Semitism and genocide his extreme human defect would never have been given free reign and the asylum he eventually died in would have been a prison. Unfortunately murderous ideology does not only prey upon the insane. Of the four Einsatzgruppen commanders of the SS mobile murder units three had Ph. D.’s and the fourth held two doctorates.
While I am not equating Nazism with evangelical Christianity (unfortunately I must make this disclaimer) this connection helped me to look at the historical relationship between slavery and Christianity in a new light that was further reinforced by reading Blum’s work on Du Bois. Even though a correlation/causation argument, as I posited last week, may be valid for particular case studies it does not hold up as an argument for an entire society or culture. As far as the idea of Christianity as submission or freedom for African slaves is concerned, it is not as simple as an either or proposition, but one that contains a dualistic double edge that is evident in the life of Du Bois. Blum often points out Du Bois opposition to corrupted, hypocritical Christianity not only because it made blacks submissive and inferior to whites but because it painted them as soulless troglodytes. Yet Du Bois and other blacks chose to fight this subjugation from within the realm of Christian theology. This then is the submission/freedom dichotomy. As Blum wrote, “Yet just as religion served as a tool of oppression, it was also a primary weapon in the long tradition of resistance and uplift. Christianity was essential to early African American social organizing, Du Bois instructed.” And his voice became that of a prophet because he combined social and economic progress with a long Christian tradition of the need for constant renewal within the church.
Du Bois was a prophet in the definitional sense as “…a chief spokesperson of a movement or cause.” And in his embrace of past Christian reformers such as Francis of Assisi and Martin Luther he argued for a renewal of what he believed to be original Christian concepts. But just as Luther’s reforms had created something new Bu Bois’ pessimism towards whites ability at renewal in a codified Christianity based on oppression led him to argue for a new Christianity based on the belief that only blacks were “…in touch with the heavenly and the sacred.” In The Souls of Black Folks Du Bois argued that blacks and marginalized peoples political, social and economic strivings were evidence of a soul and a spiritual life that evangelical Christianity denied them. In his blending of Christianity, history, sociology and political reform Du Bois attempted to create for black people what white Christianity had created for themselves, a metanarrative that inverted the idea of whiteness with godliness and replaced it with the godliness of all oppressed peoples which he believed to be one of Christ’s original messages.
Du Bois was a prophet of the oppressed who was firmly grounded in the progressive ideas of his time, not ahead of his time. Even though he was an advocate and early expounder of ideas that only gained prominence in the future, liberal theology based on spirituality not dogma and organized religion (Emerson also), anthropological arguments for a black Christ Black Liberation Theology and what the late Stephen Jay Gould called NOMA or non-overlapping magisterial, the idea that science and religion fulfill separate human needs and need not be at war with one another; we must differentiate between ideas and their implementation. The theological tradition of the proto-communism of Christ had a long history within the Catholic Church and is still adhered to by Catholic missionaries and social workers in third world countries. His critics focus on his later apologetics for communism as an argument for his agnosticism or even atheism is a shallow argument that denigrates Du Bois full body of work and attempts to paint him as having submitted to a new white master, Marx.
Du Bois prophetic nature was revealed in his desire to create something new out of an ossified Christian tradition that claimed brotherhood and equality but spewed hypocrisy and closed its eyes to murder. It seems a wholly legitimate endeavor whether or not one agrees with all of his social and economic ideas. The prophetic voice and the desire for utopia are two sides of the same coin. Du Bois attempted to start a religious tradition that blacks and the oppressed could embrace whole heartedly without the psychological difficulties of following and submitting to a white savior that was to close to the principles of slavery and submission to a white race. In many ways he succeeded.
Professor Blum, You characterize and call Du Bois an American prophet. I maintain in my reactions to your book that if Du Bois was a prophet it was in the secularized dictionary terminology as one who was the chief spokesperson of a movement or cause. While you provide copious evidence to prove Du Bois religious commitment throughout his entire life and even show in some of his works a limited propensity for equating himself with a Christ like figure, a rhetorical literary device? how do you think Du Bois would have characterized himself; as a religious or as a secular prophet?
Stephen Kynor
Du Bois Response
According to Webster’s Dictionary, a prophet is someone who “utters divinely inspired revelations.” In the book W.E.B. Du Bois: American Prophet, author and historian Edward J. Blum makes the case that despite claiming to be an Agnostic or an Atheist, Du Bois was indeed an “American prophet.”
In this work, I learned quite a lot about W.E.B. Du Bois and his role in the Black Liberation Theology movement that still continues on to this day. Du Bois began his life as a staunch Christian, but as he grew older, he began to move away from those ideas to one more focused on the present and the issues of the day rather than those in the past. On page 65, the author describes Du Bois view on the bible as being a tool for the white man to justify all he has done and continue what he is doing. Instead of preaching from it, he calls for his community to focus on the present problems at hand. In this sense he is being prophetic. In saying the God wants the African American community to rise up in the present demonstrates that perhaps Du Bois was indeed receiving revelations, perhaps from the divine. Much like those that listened to Jesus’s claim as the Son of God because he spoke with authority, those that listened to Du Bois did so for the same reason.
In early books such as Come Shouting to Zion the idea of African Americans comparing themselves to the Jews was already commonly accepted. What I did notice in this book however was the first mention of a Black Jesus. On page 154, Du Bois is described as relating the struggle of Christ to that of the African Americans. Like Christ, the vast majorities of blacks were poor and persecuted. He cites Christ’s teaching as political messages endorsing the Communism (pg. 90). Du Bois also uses one of the most recognizable symbols of Christianity, the cross, as a comparison to the trees in which hundreds of innocent men and women were persecuted and lynched by the devil’s advocates aka white men (pg. 154).
Although I would not claim that Du Bois was a true prophet of God like Moses, Samuel or Isaiah, I could see why many viewed him as divinely inspired. Much like Gandhi and Martin Luther King JR, his actions both spiritual and political would invite many to believe that there is something more going on in his thought process than just his own intellect. Although controversial, in most regards, he was a man of peace. He was against imperialism and strongly opposed to nuclear war (pg. 123).
But where I question his merits, as being called a prophet are his views on Communism. Throughout his life, Du Bois made the case that Christ would have supported Communism. Although it can be argued that Jesus’s teaching are more in lines with Marx rather than Smith through biblical passages such as “the meek shall inherit the earth”, I find it very unlikely a prophet would have such staunch support for mindless killers such as Stalin who were treating the poor in his country even worse than the whites were treating the blacks in America.
Through Blum’s introduction I do see why many view Du Bois as a great man. In my mind there is no doubt he had a God-given gift for preaching. Although I do not necessarily agree with the Blum’s prophetic claim, there is not doubt that Du Bois was a man ahead of his time who saw a future America in which, through an African American resurgence, the chance of equality could exist
Question for the Author:
-How do you justify the claim of Du Bois being a prophet despite the fact he was
such a staunch supporter of a very malicious man (Stalin)
-Who else, if anyone, would you deem “an American Prophet”?
It is clear that W.E.B. DuBois was a very spiritual person. The book states, “His rage against white supremacy was a spiritual rage. His critique of black society was a spiritual critique. And his plans for a new world were spiritual plans” (59). I personally felt that the majority of his references and works concerning the Bible centered around the concept of social justice. I believe that DuBois used the Bible as a means of empowerment for African Americans. In this quote he claims that, “No longer should they rely on an ancient savior to whisk them away to a heaven in the sky. Rather, they must follow Christ’s example on earth and become saviors of the nation and the world” (192). Also, “What DuBois wanted was a new reformation, a return to the original teachings of Christ, not to help people make it to an otherworldly heaven but to create heaven on earth” (132). These seem like pretty irreligious statements to make, however like we have talked about in class, biblical concepts were a very common approach to racism and abolition in this timeframe.
I believe the reason that DuBois’s work was so widely accepted and effective was that it was in direct opposition of that of White Supremacy. As the book states, “His penetrating analysis of the United States and of African American religion, music, and culture contradicted the theories of white supremacists at every turn” (63). While White Supremacists tried very hard to use biblical text as evidence of, “The Holiness of White” the text just came off as ignorant and unbacked by any solid claims. DuBois however, used very in depth biblical themes and context to disprove many ridiculous claims made by the Supremacists (although this did not stop people from believing in White Supremacist theology). For example, “DuBois characterized African Americans as the world’s ‘seventh sons,’ clearly alluding to the Jewish belief that children born on the seventh day, month, or year were holy” (44).
I believe that DuBois truly was an “American Prophet,” with the key word being American. He was a prophet in the sense of social change. His works changed the way that African Americans viewed themselves, and how a large part of white people viewed them. I believe that the nature of DuBois’s work can be summarized by this statement, “By minimizing the supernatural aspects of the biblical stories, DuBois drew attention to his view of Christianity as an ethical system and to his insistence that African Americans rely on themselves, not on divine intervention, for their liberation” (160).
Tara Behr
Question:
Obviously, you are one of the few who have interpreted W.E.B Du Bois as a prophet, as you state in your introduction. I am curious then, how have scholars responded to your book?
Edward J.Blum portrays W.E.B. Du Bois as an American prophet, and does so with exceptional evidence. A prophet is often described as an individual who is divinely inspired, or expresses the will of God through moral insight and influence by their power of expression. W.E.B Du Bois had exponential moral insight in regards to the equality of all peoples, and the liberation of African Americans in the United States.
Despite the racial and materialistic interests of many white Christian Americans, Du Bois powerfully spoke against such hypocrisy and hatred. He was an advocate for true Christianity, and he had hope in a reformed church, Blum explains Du Bois view as, “ The function of churches and religious leaders was clear to Du Bois: to inculcate beliefs in justice, liberty, and morality into their parishioners and to create a truly Christian society.” Du Bois challenges the true follower of Christ to be one whom: “the true follower of Christ would seek not only to transform individuals but to change social institutions and structures as well.” Clearly, Du Bois found great inspiration from Christianity, and related himself to it as he sought to confront a perverted and self-seeking Christianity. In this way, Du Bois was a prophet and had a deep belief in the spiritual life.
The nature of Du Bois work is generated from a spiritual influence and humanitarian education. His work is connected to the ideals of justice, and liberation for the oppressed, and derives from an understanding and knowledge of the spiritual. In, “ A litany of Atlanta,” he relates biblical scripture to the oppressive state of African Americans. Each phrase is religious and inclusive of a God who speaks on behalf of the injustice African Americans experience. In the after thought of “Sorrow of Songs,” Du Bois prays: “ Let the ears of a guilty people tingle with truth, and seventy millions sigh for the righteousness which exalteth nations, in this drear day when human brotherhood is mockery and a snare.” The language of, “ A litany of Atlanta,” and “sorrow of songs,” is deeply religious and insightful to scripture.
Although many scholars assume Du Bois approach in religious language is for rhetorical advantage, because his audience would receive religious expression, it appears from Blum’s observation Du Bois was indisputably spiritual. His spirituality, however, was not necessarily in line with the Christianity of his day, and he refused to be a part of many churches who he found to be hypocritical. His influence of the white progressive ministers John Holmes and William Melish certainly portray authenticity of Du Bois relation to Christianity. In this way he was quite similar to the prophets of the past. Throughout the centuries prophets have been individuals who have challenged the status quo of the religious institutions of the day. Jesus, Ghandi, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Muhammad and countless other prophets challenged the religious institutions and interpretations of their time. Du Bois then, is quite prophetic as he uses his understanding of Gods will for
The Oxford English Dictionary states that a prophet is “a divinely inspired interpreter, revealer, or teacher of the will of God or of a god.” Page 22 of American Prophet described the spiritually unique aspects of du Bois by explaining that he practiced “a Christianity that focused less on the supernatural elements of the Bible, such as the virgin birth or the resurrection, and more on its social injunctions.” An interesting parallel also appeared on pg.22 when Blum asserted that “his religious self was not one in particular identity or another; rather, it was a mix and match of beliefs, styles, and persuasions.” In this regard, I couldn’t help but think of the similarities of that sentence to the life and background of Jesus Christ. In no way am I saying that du Bois is the same, but it immediately popped in my head that Jesus in many ways was a ‘mix and match’ of beliefs, styles, and persuasions. Jesus was an oppressed Jew in a Roman-controlled Israel while du Bois was a black man in a hostile foreign country. Both were well traveled, as Jesus went far from home on mission trips and du Bois travelled to Germany, the Soviet Union, and Africa. Jesus lived a paradoxical life as a Jew challenging Jewish tradition and law. Meanwhile, du Bois was a highly-regarded man who was perceived as having great integrity and moral character, however refused to lead prayer services and challenged conventional religious notions and even blamed Christianity for many of the evils that he saw in racial prejudice. Du Bois even claimed to “have been in the world, but not of it,” an obvious comparison of himself to Christ. Pg.41 offers a possible insight to his overall view on Christianity. He was reviled at the way “whites warped Christian teachings to justify their exploitative system and hate-filled hearts.” The excerpt goes on to describe du Bois’ views of Christianity “as an honorable belief system that encouraged kindness, compassion, and sacrifice. Overall, du Bois held a dualistic view of religion. He recognized the damage that it could do if in the wrong hands, but also realized the capabilities for good that it possessed as well.
1. Does anyone currently embody Du Bois’ religious position in America? By that I mean an intellectual who takes a religious approach to social issues
2. In the Hebrew Scriptures writer after writer warns about the dangers of false prophets. These warnings can take on a variety of forms, but there is a general consensus that we should be wary of self-proclaimed prophets. Despite that warning, there are several features that particularly pertinent to typology of Old Testament prophets. These include access to divine knowledge, standing outside or against the grain of community, and a call for repentance and a return to justice. If we are to examine the life of W.E. B Du Bois against these standards alone, I would give him 2/3. It is unlikely that Du Bois would claim access to divine knowledge, but he most certainly stood outside of the community in several facets. It is obvious that he stood far outside culturally accepted conceptions of race equality. Further, his religious convictions, particularly those concerning prayer, created controversy amongst the black community. More importantly, however, Du Bois must be understood as a man who called for justice his entire life. This call for justice primarily came through his writings which are difficult to categorize. They included aspects of biography, history, literature, religion, philosophy, and most importantly sociology. In his book W.E.B. Du Bois American Prophet, Edward Blum conveys this pursuit of justice by examining his various works. This call for justice is exemplified in the personal creed given in his first autobiography.
In his book, Blum, attempts to Pain Du Bois in a religious light that is foreign to his biographers. Blum argues that Du Bois inhabited a paradox between belief and disbelief. He was both suspicious and antagonistic of dogmatic theology, but praised the Sermon on the Mount. Further, his writings are laden with religious symbolism and apocalyptic language. It could be argued that his religious language is a pragmatic attempt to garner readership. I think that argument is mistaken because it rests on a very specific understanding of what it means to be a religious prophet. If by religious prophet, we mean someone that assents to specific doctrinal issues, Du Bois is disqualified. But if a religious prophet it understood as a way of being in the world then Du Bois must certainly be considered one. At stake in this debate is whether we understand religion as something that provides a particular worldview or whether it is a way of being. Put differently, are the claims of religion to be nullified or justified based on their epistemological soundness or political significance? Du Bois believes that religious claims must manifest themselves poltically. This is evident in his eventual move to communism and the end of his life. At this point I would agree that religion is a way of being concerned with politics. My use of politics must be understood broadly. By this definition I would consider W.E.B. Du Bois an American prophet in the religious sense.
Robert J. Mery
3/13/13
History 3000-Prof. Harvey
W.E.B Du Bois Response
Question for Mr. Blum- Did Du Bois receive backlash from anybody when he wrote his own creed? If so from whom.
At first when I was reading the introduction about Du Bois I started to think of what prophet meant to me. When I hear the word prophet I automatically think of a religious figure, a messenger of God. I had to dig a little deeper to try and understand why Du Bois is called a prophet. I found that in a non-religious sense a prophet is just a person who fights for a cause. Now I can see more why Du Bois is called an American Prophet. I have a feeling many would disagree with this at first because when the majority hear prophet they probably think of the same definition that I thought of. Du Bois is a prophet in the sense of fighting for a cause. His cause throughout his life was to fight racism and he believed that religion contributed to racism therefore he would never affiliate himself with a specific religion. He was an advocate for peace but it seems that he didn’t think that religion strive for the same peace.
Blum writes that many different scholars have tried to analyze Du Bois and his beliefs, “Yet they have formed a consensus on religion in Du Bois’s life: that he had little, if any. In chorus, historians assert that Du Bois was not a Christian, that he merely used religious language for rhetorical effect, and that he was just too smart to believe in God or angels or devils….Religion influenced him as a child, scholars have asserted, but trust in science progressively replaced faith in God. This process eventually led Du Bois by the end of his life to embrace atheistic Marxism and Communism (Blum p. 9).” The embracing of Marxism and Communism just goes to show that a Du Bois’s life of disliking religion led him to atheistic Marxism and Communism because he like how they took religion out of the picture.
I’d like to bring up the part on the color of Jesus, this is a very controversial topic. It has been pointed out early in our class that majority of the depictions of Jesus to this day show a white colored Jesus. I agree that this has become the norm. When people say otherwise it is a shock to the majority because of what the norm has established. Not many people think of Jesus as anything other than what we see in paintings. What is interesting to me is that we will probably never know if he was white, black, Middle Eastern etc. So unfortunately there will always be a heated debate on what color Jesus was as long as race continues to play a role in society.
Dear all: I have posted on the “links and images” page a series of responses to Blum’s book — about halfway down the page, you’ll see the link there, or just go directly here and then scroll down to the “Featured Review” section: http://jsr.fsu.edu/Volume11/Front11.htm