Abstract
With the collection of fourteen essays The Soul of Black Folks , published in 1903, W.E.B. DuBois created a huge division within the movement of black protest in the USA. When the most influential leader of this movement, Booker T. Washington promoted educational training and
especially an "industrial education" as a means of "accommodation to the white supremacy; DuBois
asserted that the Black race had to be freed from the white hegemony through the rising of black consciousness within the black community. [...] This chapter entitled Of Alexander Crummel, is a tribute to an African American Episcopalian priest (1819-
1898). A man who wanted to uplift black people through scholarship and leadership while he had
little support; what led DuBois to admire him. The extract of 55 lines deals with the early years of
Alexander Crummel and his meeting with the author. It is preceded by a quotation of Tennyson
(1809-1892), a Victorian poet, a couple of lines of Sorrow songs, characteristic of the African
American slave culture. This excerpt shows the stylistic strategy used by DuBois to deliver his
message and the way he applied his theory through his tribute.
W.E.B. DuBois "Of Alexander Crummel" - The Soul of Black Folks
