The Educational Thought of W.E.B. Du Bois

This is the first published, comprehensive interpretation of Du Bois’s educational thought. Historian Derrick P. Alridge moves beyond the overly discussed “debates” between Booker T. Washington and Du Bois to provide fresh insights into Du Bois's educational thinking. He draws on a plethora of published and unpublished primary sources to illuminate Du Bois's educational thought on a wide variety of issues, such as women and education, black leadership, black identity, civil rights, black higher education, community education, and academic achievement.

This incisive examination of Du Bois:

• Covers 70 years of Du Bois's life, from his graduation as the first black Ph.D. recipient at Harvard to his death in Ghana.
• Traces Du Bois's relationships with Booker T. Washington and other African American thinkers of his time.
• Shows how events such as lynchings, Reconstruction policies, and Progressivism influenced Du Bois's life and thinking.

Derrick P. Alridge is associate professor at the College of Education and associate professor and director of the Institute for African American Studies in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia.

“This important work fills one of the remaining gaps in our understanding of the leading African American scholar-activist of the twentieth century.”
—From the Foreword by V.P. Franklin, University of California, Riverside

“Finally, a biographical interpretation that places Du Bois squarely within the tradition of black educators. This book provides important context, both for historians seeking a broader interpretation of Du Bois as an educator and for contemporary policymakers seeking a deeper understanding of the vexing problems confronting black children today.”
—Vanessa Siddle Walker, Emory University

“A much-needed update to the enormous depth of Du Bois's educational philosophy. Alridge does a brilliant job in providing a broader and more balanced view of Du Bois's intellectual and educational thought.”
—Linda M. Perkins, Claremont Graduate University

“With this superb book, Derrick Alridge has re-centered the axes of historical debate and analysis in the fields of African American educational and intellectual history. It is a welcome addition to the literature in the fields of Du Boisian studies, American intellectual history, and African American educational history.”
—Larry L. Rowley, University of Michigan