Editorial Board:
Editor:
George H. Conklin,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Board:
Rebecca Adams,
 UNC-Greensboro

Bob Davis,
 North Carolina
 Agricultural and
 Technical State
 University

Catherine Harris,
 Wake Forest
 University

Ella Keller,
 Fayetteville
 State University

Ken Land,
 Duke University

Miles Simpson,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Ron Wimberley,
 N.C. State University

Robert Wortham,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Editorial Assistants

Austin W. Ashe,
 North Carolina
 Central University

John W.M. Russell,
 Technical
 Consultant

® 
Sociation Today's Reprint Series

W. E. B. Du Bois

Outline of Articles

1. An Introduction to the Sociology of W.E.B. Du Bois
   by Robert Wortham
   W.E.B. Du Bois was the founder of the Atlanta School of sociology, writing more than a dozen books in almost as many years.  One of his significant contributions to modern sociology was his pioneering work in the use of empirical data which include census materials and original surveys. 
2. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois and the Concepts of Race, Class and Gender
   by Angela J. Hattery and Earl Smith
   Hattery and Smith argue that Du Bois was three generations ahead of the sociological literature on race, class and gender.  His work today shows its contemporaneous nature, with newly-minted words such as standpoint epistemology reflecting some of the pioneering ideas introduced by Du Bois. 
3. Religion and the Sociological Imagination of W.E.B. Du Bois
    by Edward J. Blum
   Du Bois thought that Christianity needs to free itself from the burdens of the history of slavery and harken back to what he considered the original teachings of Christ and a true renewal of Christianity. 
4. W.E.B. Du Bois and the Atlanta Sociological Laboratory
   by Earl Wright II
   The Atlanta University school of sociology was probably the first school of American sociology.  Wright gives a history of the rise of the Atlanta Sociological Laboratory. 
5. Suggested Further Readings by W.E.B. Du Bois 1898-1910, With Annotations
   by Anna M. Owens
   Owens' compilation includes the more obscure works by Du Bois.  There are also links to several of Du Bois' complete books. 
6. W.E.B. Du Bois and His Social-Scientific Research: A Review of His Online Texts 
    by Robert W. Williams  
   The work of W.E.B. Du Bois which is available online is extensive.  Williams provides a scholarly review of the work and life of Du Bois while documenting a very large amount of material available for students and the scholarly community in the online formats. . 
7. W.E.B. Du Bois' Urban Sociology: Reflections on African American Quality of Life in Philadelphia 
   by  Robert A. Wortham
   W.E.B. Du Bois' The Philadelphia Negro ([1899], 1996) is a classic work in urban ecology and urban ethnography.  In this small area social study, Du Bois demonstrates how an understanding of the properties of social structure provides a framework for discussing African American quality of life in an urban setting.  Relying on extensive use of census data, a survey of Philadelphia's Seventh Ward and ethnographic description, Du Bois utilizes methodological triangulation to specify how Philadelphia's urban inequality is a function of race and class, a point which is also made in Wilson and Taub's 2006 study on neighborhood transition in Chicago.  Du Bois anticipates the work of Park, Burgess and McKenzie as he comments on the movement of groups in and out of slum areas, and he provides evidence which suggests that the Seventh Ward functioned as an African American economic enclave.  In addition to being a seminal thinker in the development of scientific sociology in the U.S., Du Bois is also one of urban sociology's pioneering figures.
8. Mortality Patterns in the Southern Black Belt: Regional and Racial Comparisons  
   by Dale W. Wimberley
   W. E. B. Du Bois coined the term The Black Belt to indicate an area of extreme structural inequality.  The Southern Black Belt is a set of U.S. counties with proportionately high African American populations and the Plantation South's social legacy. Previous research revealed the region's serious socioeconomic disadvantages. This article presents the first comprehensive analysis of Black Belt mortality.  Both Blacks and Whites in the Black Belt experience substantially worse infant mortality and shorter life expectancy compared to their counterparts in the rest of the South and the rest of the U.S. The study also examines the region's leading causes of death and cause-specific "excess" deaths by race, and considers the findings' policy implications.
9. W.E.B. Du Bois and Demography:
   Early Explorations

by Robert A. Wortham
Du Bois'contributions to demographic research in sociology, although at least 15 years earlier than the recognized work by Thompson, has been unacknowledged, even as it broke new ground in documenting the demographic patterns of African Americans in Philadelphia.  His contributions are recounted here, along with a plea that Du Bois be recognized as a trail blazer in the field of social demography. 
10. W.E.B. DuBois and the Sociology of the African American Family

by Mindy M. Saari
W. E. B. Du Bois took an empirical, scientific approach in his attempt to document African American family life at the turn of the twentieth century, and he consistently argued that inequality was grounded in social structures that could be changed. As a social scientist, he worked to promote change by empirically documenting the "Negro Problems" and addressing the African American community's continued limited access to accepted social norms regarding family life.
11. The Berlin Years: The Influence of German Thought and Experience on the Development of Du Bois' Sociology 

by Stacey Weger
Despite being historically well received for his many contributions to literature, civil rights, and political advocacy, W.E.B. Du Bois' contributions to the development of scientific sociology have been understated.  It is evident that the teachings of several key faculty at the University of Berlin, in particular, those of Gustav Schmoller and Max Weber, played a significant role in forming Du Bois' attitudes towards social research and reform, and in laying out a blueprint for his future practices in the field.  The influence of Du Bois' education in Europe is explored as is his contribution to the theoretical basis of sociology as a discipline.
12. Methodological Triangulation and the Social Studies of Charles Booth, Jane Addams, and W.E.B. Du Bois 

by Shannon O'Connor 
Du Bois' study was funded by the University of Pennsylvania and was closely tied to the "Settlement Movement."  The goal of the study was to understand the causes of the social problems of African Americans residing in the seventh ward.  Du Bois gathered data and generated empirical findings that he felt would expose the oppressive nature of treatment toward African Americans.  It was his hope that these findings would provide a basis for social improvement.
13. Du Bois and Frazier:  A Sociological Look at the Quality of Life in the Black Family in America 
    by Cassandra Walston 
    Du Bois and Frazier studied the Black family from a perspective that integrated sociological and historical analysis. Du Bois and Frazier analyzed the progression of the Black family from slavery to emancipation to the Jim Crow era. In the late 1890's Du Bois looked at the social structure of the Black community and painted a picture of a group of people who were uneducated and poverty stricken.  Frazier provided a more positive spin.  He documented a change  in the 1920's -1930's that showed upward mobility, more educational attainment,  property ownership, better jobs, better living conditions, and a less segregated environment in the North.
14. Book Review of W.E.B. Du Bois and the Sociological Imagination: A Reader, 1897-1914 
    by Robert Davis 
    This insightful collection of essays and excerpts by Robert Wortham describes and analyzes African American quality of life and racial etiquette that pervaded the political, economic and social arrangements of the day. Du Bois early on believed that racial prejudice and discrimination were functions of ignorance and that once presented with verifiable facts a basis for social change could be provided. 
    
     
     
     
     
     

    
    ©2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 by the North Carolina Sociological Association