"Nations reel and stagger on their way; they make hideous mistakes; they commit frightful wrongs; they do great and beautiful things. And shall we not best guide humanity by telling the truth about all this, so far as the truth is ascertainable?"
W.E.B. Du Bois, (1935)
W.E.B. Du Bois, (1935)
One of Du Bois' many strengths was that he understood *why* nations try to forget the more painful elements of their history. But the result was "that history loses its value as an incentive and example; it paints perfect men and noble nations, but it does not tell the truth".
In an age when new forms of oppression were taking root, romantic versions of history, that refused to look the horror of slavery in the face, actively encouraged people "to embrace and worship the color bar", while "helping to range mankind in ranks of mutual hatred & contempt".
"One is astonished in the study of history at the recurrence of the idea that evil must be forgotten, distorted, skimmed over". As Du Bois pointed out, that also silenced heroic stories of those who resisted and who strove to build a better world.
A theme of Du Bois' work is a demand for truth, to resist the desire "so to change the facts of history that the story will make pleasant reading". It's an appeal that still resonates today.
Quotes from Du Bois, "The Propaganda of History", in his "Black Reconstruction" (1935).
Quotes from Du Bois, "The Propaganda of History", in his "Black Reconstruction" (1935).
For more on Du Bois, there's a short article here: naacp.org/find-resources…. Or a longer piece in the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy: plato.stanford.edu/entries/dubois/
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