Academics note work of DuBois

A conference celebrating the life and work of W.E.B. DuBois opened on campus yesterday. A diverse crowd of about 150 students, faculty and renowned scholars from universities across the country attended the opening yesterday of "The Study of African American Problems: Papers Presented in Honor of W.E.B. DuBois," a conference being held in Meyerson Hall. The two-day conference -- organized by Social Sciences Professor Elijah Anderson and Sociology Professor Tukufu Zuberi -- honors the research DuBois conducted on the problems faced by African Americans in society. The conference concentrates on research and findings published in DuBois' 1898 journal publication, entitled The Study of Negro Problems. "DuBois had this idea about how to study African-American problems," said Zuberi, who will take over as head of Penn's African Studies Center in July. "[We need to] look at what DuBois said." Zuberi added that the "driving objective" of the conference is to "evaluate DuBois' contributions, how and what we understand about the African-American problem [and to] build on them." The conference consists of eight panels focusing on different aspects of DuBois' work. At each session, two academic experts presented an original thesis on the topic, followed by a discussion moderated by a third panelist, including, among others, William Julius Wilson and Henry Gates Jr., both of Harvard University, and James Bowman of the University of Chicago. Each day of the conference concludes with a dinner and keynote address by a noted African-American scholar. Yesterday's topics of discussion included the gender-based and sociological interpretations of DuBois' research on African Americans in society, while today's topics include the political economy, statistical investigation and philosophy of DuBois' work. "The topics we have chosen [for discussion] are, for the most part, those that DuBois himself set forth," Anderson said. Anderson and Zuberi came together last summer to organize the event, planning its first day to correspond with the birthday of the social activist and researcher DuBois, who was born in 1868. University President Judith Rodin opened the ceremony yesterday by calling DuBois an "extraordinary man" and the event's attendees "beneficiaries of DuBois' intellectual richness." "This [conference] is clearly one of the most scholarly events at Penn this year," Rodin said. She emphasized the fact that DuBois himself did research at Penn and that the University has a responsibility to continue to carry on his work today. DuBois' research at Penn yielded The Philadelphia Negro, his most famous work on the social and economic conditions of African Americans. "We have the opportunity to analyze the wisdom of W.E.B. DuBois," Rodin added. Annenberg School for Communication Dean Kathleen Hall Jamieson used DuBois' words to emphasize that universities must continue to attempt to validate DuBois' research findings today. "The words of W.E.B. DuBois are as true today as they were when he wrote them," she said. The original speeches presented at the conference will be published in next year's issue of The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science -- the journal in which DuBois first published a proposal for The Philadelphia Negro.