The Freedom to Learn: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Teaching of Black History

• In Event: W. E. B. Du Bois in Our Times: Toward Racial Justice in Education in the 21st Century

Abstract

W.E.B. Du Bois is perhaps the most prolific scholar of Black history. Du Bois’s scholarship scans a period of 75-plus years and addresses many of the challenges Black people faced in the twentieth century. His The Souls of Black Folk offers a framework for understanding the psychological tensions among Black students; Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880 provides an analytical tool to better comprehend the tenuous relationship between the Black and White working class; The World and Africa: An Inquiry into the Part Which African Has Played in World History provides a history lesson on the contributions of Black people to the world; and his corpus of books, articles, and speeches offer useful insights for educators, educational policymakers, teachers, and students in the U.S. and around world in twenty-first century.1
In these early decades of the twenty-first century, public debates about the teaching of Black history and the inclusion of Black history in K-12 schools have reached a fever pitch. The debates have focused on what should be taught in Black history courses, the theoretical lenses that should be used, and whether Black history should be taught at all. Many parents, teachers, and students argue that Black history is an essential part of U.S. history that has been neglected in schools for far too long; whereas others argue that teaching Black history as a separate subject teaches students is divisive.2 Such debates are not new. Throughout his life, Du Bois was front and center in public discussions about Black history, and his positions on the matter can be informative in the present debates. Thus, I pose the following questions: What did Du Bois suggest as effective ways of engaging Black history? What specific artifacts did he leave regarding the teaching of Black history? How might Du Bois inform our understanding of the importance of and teaching about Black history in 2024? How might we, as educators and scholars, respond to the public disinformation about the teaching of Black history?
This Presidential Session presentation and paper, which extends my previous work and is part of a larger book project, places Du Bois in conversation (metaphorically, of course) with recent debates in the teaching of Black history.3 My purpose is threefold: to address the current policy debates about the teaching of Black history; to illustrate the utility of Du Bois’s thinking about Black history as it relates to the current debates; and to offer historically and theoretically grounded policy recommendations based on my reading of Du Bois’s work. Ultimately, Du Bois was a teacher who could impart much to us about the teaching of Black history.

Author

• Derrick Alridge, University of Virginia