The sociology of religion of W.E.B. Du Bois

Sociology of Religion, Summer, 2002 by Phil Zuckerman

INTRODUCTION

While many sociologists continue to overlook the significant contributions W.E.B. Du Bois made to sociological theory and practice (Ashley and Orenstein 2001; Pampelo 2000; Ritzer 2000; Hadden 1997; Cuzzort and King 1989), others have recently helped to establish his much-deserved place in the canon (Collins and Makowsky 1998; Farganis 2000; Kivisto 2000; Lemert 1993; Brint and LaValle 2000). Rodney Stark (1985) has been particularly important in highlighting the foundational contributions Du Bois made to the development of sociology in the United States. (1)

Du Bois's work on race, history, and politics has generated the greatest amount of scholarly attention (Bell, Grosholz and Stewart 1996; Byerman 1994; Green and Driver 1978; Broderick 1974; Blackwell and Janowitz 1974), but few are aware that he was also a seminal sociologist of religion. In fact, The negro church (1903), a book he edited and co-wrote, is the first specifically sociological book-length study of religion published in the United States. Du Bois's additional writings reveal a lifelong interest in religion, an interest which was quite sociological in nature. And yet, nearly all recently published sociology of religion survey texts fail to mention his name (Greeley 1995; McGuire 1997; Thrower 1999; Bainbridge 1997; Kurtz 1995; Hamilton 1995; Turner 1997; Aldridge 2000) or do so very briefly, only in passing (Johnstone 1997; Chalfant, Beckley and Palmer 1994). Indeed, as a sociologist of religion, Du Bois remains virtually unknown. Why have his writings on religion been ignored for so long? Perhaps because he has been so well-known as a scholar of race, that his significant contributions in other areas have simply been ignored by default. But it may be more pernicious than that: most of Du Bois's sociological work was ignored or overlooked by mainstream sociology for decades. This unfortunate exclusion from the canon is an important topic in its own right, but beyond the scope of this article. It has been dealt with thoroughly elsewhere (Sibley 1995; Basu 2000; Anderson 1988).

The goals of this article are: 1) to call attention to Du Bois's sociology of religion in the hopes of generating more attention to and appreciation of his work; and 2) to summarize his contributions, illustrating their continued relevance for the sociological study of religion. In brief, Du Bois's treatment of religion is typified by three characteristics: 1) a reliance upon standard sociological methods in generating data; 2) a focus on the religious life of African Americans; and 3) special attention paid to the this-worldly, communal, specifically social rewards which religious affiliation provides. These aspects of his work will be discussed in greater length below.

SOURCES

Before proceeding further, a few .words concerning my sources. Researching Du Bois's work on religion is a difficult task for the following reasons: many of his most significant contributions are out of print and quite hard to find, for example, The negro church (1903). Also, much of what he had to say concerning religion is scattered throughout an array of collections and edited volumes, often published for the first time after his death. Additionally, some of his most important insights were delivered as speeches or included in various newspaper and/or magazine articles, most of which, again, were published posthumously (see Green and Driver 1978; Weinberg 1970; Foner 1970). The main sources for my research into Du Bois's sociology of religion included: 1) his well-known works, such as The souls of black folk (1989 [1903]) and The Philadelphia negro (1967 [1899]), which contain individual chapters that specifically address religion; 2) his lesser-known (and out of print) works, such as The negro church (1903), The gifts of black folk (l968c [1924]) and The negro in the South (Washington and Du Bois 1970 [1907]); 3) collections of his personal writings and correspondences (Aptheker 1973, 1976, 1978); and finally 4) his creative writings, including novels, poems, and short stories (Aptheker 1985), which are actually quite often sociological in nature. For additional information concerning Du Bois's major writings on religion, see Du Bois on religion (Zuckerman 2000).

A LIFE

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, on February 23, 1868. He died in Accra, Ghana, on August 27, 1963. He married Nina Gomer in 1896 and they had two children: a son, Burghardt (who died at age three), and a daughter, Yolande. A year after Nina's death in 1950, he married his second wife, Shirley Graham. He received his B.A. in 1888 from Fisk University, a second B.A. from Harvard in 1890, and an M.A. from Harvard in 1892. After two years of study at the University of Berlin, he received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1895. He studied under such notables as Max Weber, George Santayana, and William James. He was Professor of Greek and Latin at Wilberforce University from 1894-1896, Assistant Instructor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania from 1896-1897, and at Atlanta University he was Professor of Economics and History from 1897-1910 and chair of the Sociology Department there from 1934-1944. He wrote over twenty books and hundreds of essays and articles through out his life, and edited several major magazines, including The Crisis, from 1910-1934. He was a principal founder of the Niagara Movement and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; a world leader of the Pan-African movement; and a leader of many subsequent Pan-African Congresses.