Aldon D. Morris (Northwestern University’s Leon Forrest Professor of Sociology and African American Studies) speaks at the Department of Sociology’s Academic Launch 2016, on “W. E. B. Du Bois at the Center: From Science, Civil Rights Movement, to Black Lives Matter, 2016″ Tues Sept 6, 2:00-3:30 (ANSO 207)
Abstract: W. E. B. Du Bois was a pioneering sociologist who played a pivotal role in the founding of scientific sociology in America. Yet, Du Bois’ major contributions have been erased from the collective memory of the discipline of sociology. My lecture, which is based on my new book, The Scholar Denied: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern sociology, reflects on the causes of the erasure and why it is important for contemporary scholars to reclaim and incorporate Du Bois’ work into the intellectual foundations of sociology. Du Bois was both scholar and activists. My lecture will explore the activist dimensions of Du Bois work and make the case that scholarship and activism can enrich the sociological imagination