Bryan Staley
April 30, 2015
English 2089
Striving to Prove
W.E.B. Dubois was a man of excellence. He believed in Civil Rights and he believed
education was key to success, especially living American society. This is why I decided to write
my rhetorical analysis on W.E.B. Dubois’s document titled, “Striving of a Negro People”. In the
essay Dubois goes in to detail about the unfairness of being a Negro in the United States and how
the country could benefit if white people would just accept them for who they are. Blacks were
not seen as Americans but African Americans. According, too many politicians and social
activities believed to be American you have to be white. This gave blacks two strivings one for
their rights of being American citizens and another of being African descent.
Dubois goal of this essay was to catch the attention of white people of the country. The
goal was trying to convince them that blacks can prove themselves to be great contributors to the
country if just given the chance. But, double consciousness was getting in the way of that.
Double consciousness is a term coined from W.E.B. Dubois. It was a way for him to describe
some whose identity was divided in to several facets. A quote from the text says, “Negro is a sort
of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world, - a world
which yields him no self-consciousness but only lets him see himself through the revelation of
the world… this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the
eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt
and pity.”(Dubois, 143) Dubois in this quote from the essay, was trying to explain how the black
person feelings in America. They are told that they are unworthy of being equal to any other
white person in the country and start to believe it. Like W.E.B. Dubois said the “Negro is a sort
of a seventh son”, meaning after the Egyptians, Indians, Greek, Roman, Teuton, and Mongolian
the black man comes last. So, his approval comes from everyone before him. For example you’re
a child and your parents are raising you. As a child you do not know any better and are ignorant
enough to believe anything that comes out of someone’s mouth, especially from a parents. So if a
parents tells a child they are nothing the child will believe it because that is who they look up to.
Same case with African Americans at this time. Being the seventh son you are the youngest so
you look up to those races before you for guidance and approval.
Next, in the essay Dubois wanted to make clear that since being citizens of the U.S. they
have had two strivings. They are being an American and Negro. Dubois says, “One ever feels
his two-ness, - an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two
warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from asunder.”(Dubois,
143) He tried to explain to the white audience in this quote that African Americans are trying to
attain their “self-conscious manhood” to merge the two being an American and from African
descent. In which, merging both will give them the chance to become better individuals. Dubois
wanted it to known that it is possible for a Negro to be both Negro and American without being
ridiculed by fellow Americans without losing the opportunity of self-development. A quote
says, “This is the end of his striving: to be a co-worker in the kingdom of culture, to escape both
death and isolation, and to husband and use his best power.”(Dubois, 144) This quote explains
the Negro does not want anything but acceptance from America. They just want a chance to
prove they can contribute to the country and the country can benefit from it in a great way. The
goal was not to Africanize the country or anything but to co-work with everyone else to building
the U.S. in to a country of excellence.
“Striving of the Negro People” was a more important essay than the one being written
now. It gave insight to what African American was thinking back in the 18th century. Dubois did
not just write this for his health. He wrote for the white Americans to convince them to accept
African Americans as who they are and to allow them to be involved in the effort of building the
U.S. in to a strong economic country. He also, wrote this to give white Americans the insight of
how it feels to be a Negro in America. By explaining this feeling Dubois tried to connect with
the audience by using the rhetorical appeal of pathos. He tried to connect to the audience by
emotional appeal to try and convince them to give Negros a chance at working to make the
country a better place. I have to I agree with the method used by W.E.B. Dubois to get his point
across.