The Contributions of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois to the Harlem Renaissance - Admission/Application Essay Example

 The Contributions of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois to the Harlem RenaissanceThe Harlem Renaissance was an African-American movement that came into existence in the 1920s which focused on the demonstration of the cultural expressions in the areas of the Northeast and Midwest cities of the United States. Du Bois came up with the concept of a new double identity which was achieved by making it specific to the New Negro. His believe that the African-Americans should be educated to their highest level made him to a great force of influence among the people.

He attempted every possible means to offer solution to problems that were on the rise in the twentieth century such as racism, human rights economic separatism and regional integration. In support of the Harlem Renaissance, he wrote close to 4,000 articles. He established himself as the patron and the mentor of the New Negro Movement together with Jessie Fauset, they launched Black writers’ writing competition which was the first in that era. The event saw the emergence of young black writers who were deeply gifted in the field of writing such as Langton Hughes.

He attended the civic club dinner in 1924 that served as the literary debut in Harlem. While there he encouraged many emerging black writers as well as motivation them for their great contributions to the Renaissance. He regarded the younger literary movement as his own heirs. He argued that artistic and literary production could offer a very powerful weapon in the quest for justice and equal treatment of the African-Americans. This is evident in his two novels namely The Quest of the Silver Fleece and The Star of Ethiopia.

He hailed black spirituals and music as some of the greatest contributions to the world culture that made the American society become what it was. He attributes the economic might of the American nation to the hard labor that was offered by the black slaves as well as their descendants with less reward being given to them. He further gives an account of some of the brave blacks who fought alongside the whites in the liberation of the nation during the Civil war on some of his books. In The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois invented some of the major concepts that defined race politics in America at the time.

The book is a collection of the autobiographical essays on the life of the African-Americans in relation to their roles in the political landscape.Du Bois’s participation in the movement was evident through his artistic and creative writings. In the long run, his devotion to the Harlem Renaissance deteriorated as he came to believe that the Whites who came to Harlem were not attracted by their appreciation of Black art but by Voyeurism. As more white patronages were getting attracted to the Harlem Renaissance, Du Bois felt the dire need to interrogate as well as expose publicly the presumptions that were protected by the domain of the pure art as it was commonly referred.

He argued that the movement should not be based upon the satisfaction of the white cultural demands but should rather be geared towards the material imperatives of the culture industry.Work citedBloom, Harold. The Harlem Renaissance. Philadelphia, Pa: Chelsea House Publishers, 2004. Print.