Du Bois and Locke on the Scientific Study of the Negro

The Souls of Black Folk has been canonized as Du Bois’s literary masterpiece. But, given all that it contains, it is clearly more than that. In chapter 9, Du Bois poses the question of the color line in terms of ‘‘the contact of European civilization with the world’s undeveloped peoples.’’ 1 He characterizes the history of such contact as ‘‘not a pleasant chapter in human action.’’ His tacit endorsement of the ‘‘nobler outcomes’’ envisioned by the leading Social Darwinists of the period is somewhat of a surprise alongside his acknowledgment that a claim of ‘‘the triumph of strength over weakness, of righteousness over evil, of superiors over inferiors,’’ has provided an excuse for ‘‘war, murder, slavery, extermination, and debauchery.’’ He cautions, however, that ‘‘it would certainly be soothing if one could readily believe all this’’ (SBF, 114). But how much of the Social Darwinist story about evolution and racial difference are we to believe? Du Bois raises the question of whether, in the case of European colonial expansion, ‘‘the