W E B DUBOIS AND HEALTH

W E B DuBois and Health

W E B DuBois and Health

Introduction

William Edward Burghardt DuBois, to his admirers, was by spirited devotion and scholarly dedication, an attacker of injustice and a defender of freedom. A harbinger of Black nationalism and Pan-Africanism, he died in self-imposed exile in his home away from home with his ancestors of a glorious past—Africa. (www.bookrags.com/W.E.B._DuBois)

Labeled as a "radical," he was ignored by those who hoped that his massive contributions would be buried along side of him. But, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, "history cannot ignore W.E.B. DuBois because history has to reflect truth and Dr. DuBois was a tireless explorer and a gifted discoverer of social truths. His singular greatness lay in his quest for truth about his own people. There were very few scholars who concerned themselves with honest study of the black man and he sought to fill this immense void. The degree to which he succeeded disclosed the great dimensions of the man." (www.jstor.org/stable/303226 )

Background W.E.B. Du Bois' 1899 book, The Philadelphia Negro, is recognized as a classic work of urban history and sociology both for its innovative research methods and exhaustive findings about African American life at the turn of the 20th century. The Philadelphia branch of the College Settlement Association (CSA) commissioned the study in 1896 because it wanted to know more about the “Negro problem” in Philadelphia that CSA believed was inhibiting their political reform efforts. With little assistance, Du Bois surveyed all 2,500 black households in the Old Seventh Ward, a 50-block area stretching from 6th Street to the Schuylkill River, Spruce to South Streets. Based on his detailed interviews and observations, newspaper articles, and administrative records, (www.biography.com/search/article.jsp?aid=9279924 ) Du Bois documented racial disparities in employment, housing, education, voting opportunities, and health. He succeeded in recasting the “Negro problem,” giving attention to the problems blacks faced, rather than caused. As he explained, “There have… been few other cases in the history of civilized peoples where human suffering has been viewed with such peculiar indifference.” (p. 163)

Discussion

Mapping the Du Bois Philadelphia Negro is a funded research and teaching project that aims to use GIS technology to recreate Du Bois' study with online interactive mapping that integrates historical demographic and housing data with historical maps, photographs, and newspaper articles. Visitors to our website will be able to query individual- level data and analyze spatial patterns through thematic mapping, making the book more engaging while offering lessons in GIS and spatial data analysis. The National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) and University Research Foundation (URF) have funded the first phase of this project which focuses on the collection of 1900 census data for all 4,500 properties in the study area(www.duboislc.org/html/DuBoisBio.html). The 1900 census data includes name, age, relationship, marital status, education status, place of birth, parents' place of birth, children, occupation, and housing tenure (own/rent). This application seeks funding to extend data collection to include historical health ...