Black feminists and Du Bois: Respectability, protection, and beyond

Throughout his life, W.E.B. Du Bois was an advocate for black women. Howeve r, in his article of 1898, "The Study of the Negro Problems," he posits a m odel of the intellectuals, the investigators who analyze Negro problems, as male. In other writings, the most important being "The Damnation of Women, " Du Bois focuses his attention on black women as mothers, workers, and act ivists but not as intellectuals. This is why contemporary black feminist in tellectuals continue to claim him as an important ancestor even as they cri tique some of his failures around gender. The author's research attempts to enhance and extend the intellectual agendas Du Bois set in motion by being attentive to both gender and race.