W. E. B. Du Bois, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Black Sociology

Abstract

Abstract W. E. B. Du Bois is the founding father of sociology because he was the first to employ scientific sociology. While Du Bois engaged in scientific sociology, many of his White peers conducted scientific racism studies that promoted biological, intellectual, and physical differences between the races. This disconnect necessitated Du Bois’s creation of a parallel world of sociological inquiry and analysis, Black sociology, which emphasized the elimination of social oppression through scientific sociology. In this chapter it is revealed that the principles of Black sociology emerged primarily from Du Bois during his tenure at Atlanta University, where he established the first American school of sociology. In addition, Black sociology was practiced at historically Black colleges and universities, including Fisk University, which had one of the earliest programs of applied sociology in the nation under George Edmund Haynes, and Tuskegee Institute, where Booker T. Washington spearheaded the nation’s first applied rural sociology program.