Abstract W.E.B. Du Bois was a leading advocate for granting women the right to vote. This aspect of his political activism, although highly significant, does not receive nearly as much attention as it deserves. Consequently, it is not as widely known as other aspects of his political views. This essay examines Du Bois’s views and writings on woman suffrage within the pages of the NAACP’s Crisis magazine. His promotion of “votes for women” can be seen, in many regards, as an extension of the dedicated advocacy of woman suffrage by Frederick Douglass. This analysis highlights W.E.B. Du Bois’s constructive engagement of the suffrage issue along with his biting critique of the racial politics of the suffrage movement. Moreover, it interrogates the ways in which Du Bois’s highly visible advocacy of the woman suffrage cause helps to challenge the myth Black men did not support enfranchising women (including Black women).
Welcome to Phylon, the peer-reviewed journal that W.E.B. Du Bois founded at Atlanta University in 1940. Phylon has moved from a quarterly to a semi-annual publication and each issue will be defined by a special topic of general interest to faculty in the humanities and social sciences. With each volume we will encourage joint authorship by academics from various disciplines so that not only is the theme of the article presented, but it will be discussed in a Du Bosian interdisciplinary fashion taking into account historical, political and socio-economic interpretations. We believe that it is time to recognize that many of us in nominally separate fields and disciplines are working on the same problem from slightly different angles. The full text version of Phylon is only available to users within Atlanta University Center. Individuals outside of the Atlanta University Center may contact may contact the editor-in-chief, Dr. Obie Clayton (oclayton@cau.edu), for subscription access options.
Clark Atlanta University (CAU) is a comprehensive, private, urban, coeducational institution of higher education with a predominantly African-American heritage. It offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees as well as certificate programs to students of diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Clark Atlanta was established in 1988 by the consolidation of Atlanta University (1865), the nation's first graduate school for African Americans, and Clark College (1869), the nation's first four-year liberal arts institution to serve a predominantly African-American undergraduate student population.
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Phylon (1960-)