Tag Archives | W. E. B. Du Bois

In 1949, W.E.B. Du Bois testified before Congress to protest against a bill that would fund the new North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

On 12 January, the day commemorating the 1904 revolt of the Herero people against German colonialism, Olaf Scholz’s government announced that it would intervene in the International Court of Justice to oppose South Africa’s charge of genocide against Israel.

Du Bois, trained in history and sociology, was the first to conduct a scientific study on race in American society. Kosambi was trained in mathematics but was the first to scientifically investigate ancient Indian history.

This book sets out to challenge some of the assumptions that undergird what I call the competitive society—that is, a society marked by winners and losers, a world in which Black people are routinely expected to bear the burden of loss and defeat.

What follows is the paper I gave this past weekend at the ninth annual meeting of the Society for U.S. Intellectual History in Dallas. I received excellent comments from our chair, Amy Wood, and from several audience members–comments that have made me rethink some of my argument. But I publish here without editing in the hopes that I receive more comments.