Du Bois opens this 1897 address to the American Negro Academy by confronting a paradox: the American Negro has long minimized race distinctions in response to racist assumptions, yet, he insists, human beings are indeed divided into races. The essay moves from this philosophical claim to a practical program, urging the Academy to become a representative, impartial, and firm leader for the race. Du Bois’s language shifts between abstract reasoning—defining race as a shared history and ideal—and blunt moral exhortation, as when he warns that unless the race conquers its present vices, they will conquer it.

Defining Race as a Historical and Spiritual Force

Du Bois begins by rejecting biological determinism. He defines a race not by physical traits but by a common history, traditions, and impulses—what he calls “the same ideals of life.” This definition allows him to argue that races are enduring entities with distinct contributions to make. He writes that each race strives “to develop its own peculiar genius” and that the Negro race must do the same. The essay’s structure mirrors this argument: it first establishes a theoretical foundation, then applies it to the American context. Du Bois’s prose here is measured and philosophical, drawing on the language of natural law and human striving.

The Academy as a Vehicle for Collective Action

Du Bois devotes the latter half of the essay to outlining the mission of the American Negro Academy. He insists it must be representative—not of all factions, but of the best thought and highest ideals. It must be impartial, telling the truth rather than flattering. And it must be firm in leadership, pointing a practical path forward. He lists concrete questions the Academy should address: attitudes toward educational qualifications for voters, separate schools, and discrimination on railways. The essay’s tone grows more urgent as Du Bois calls for unity not merely to protest, but to combat disease, crime, and sexual impurity within the race. He uses the metaphor of an army fighting devils that disgrace manhood.

Recurring Images of Striving and Natural Limits

Throughout the essay, Du Bois returns to the image of striving against natural law. He writes that all human effort must recognize “the hard limits of natural law,” and that striving against the constitution of the world is vain. This image recurs in his call for the Academy to “unflinchingly and bravely face the truth.” The movement between abstract principle and concrete reform is a structural pattern: Du Bois repeatedly rises from immediate grievances—separate schools, lynch law—to survey the whole question of race in human philosophy. This oscillation gives the essay a rhythmic, almost sermonic quality, as he alternates between diagnosis and prescription.

A Rhetoric of Moral Urgency and Self-Reliance

Du Bois’s language becomes most vivid when he addresses the internal failings of the race. He speaks of “an alarmingly large percentage of our men and women” as sexually impure, and warns of criminal tendencies. He insists that the Negro people must not expect things to be done for them—they must do for themselves. This call for self-reformation is paired with a rejection of mere complaint: “a little less complaint and whining, and a little more dogged work and manly striving would do us more credit and benefit than a thousand Force or Civil Rights bills.” The essay thus balances a philosophical defense of race with a stern, practical moralism, using the Academy as the instrument of both.

Readers should note that this essay is a founding document for the American Negro Academy, and its arguments are shaped by that institutional purpose. Du Bois’s definition of race as a spiritual and historical entity, rather than a biological one, anticipates his later work. The essay’s structure—moving from theory to institutional program to moral exhortation—reflects his attempt to ground practical action in philosophical principle. The excerpts provided do not include the full text, so some of Du Bois’s specific policy proposals may be missing, but the core argument for racial conservation and self-organization is clearly present.