The traditional approach to the historical narrative of the United States is one embedded in the erasure of Black people and their history. In the city of Philadelphia, “the birthplace” of this nation, there are gaping holes in the local and national history that holistically reflect the parts of America’s story that was created and influenced by Black Americans. In a city like Philadelphia where the narrative about African Americans which is often described with respect to what they are lacking and not concerned with the manner in which their “lacking” came about, this history of “lacking” is meticulously captured in William Edward Burghardt DuBois’ seminal, sociological study of “the Negro problem” in the city of Philadelphia. DuBois’ study was the first study of race and the first sociological study to trace the origin of Black America’s troubles to the institution of racism. It is the first time that a Black social scientist dared to research the lives of Black people, assess their concerns and point to the actions of their White oppressors as the source of their malaise, despite the fact that this study was commissioned at the behest of White scholars and philanthropists. It is fitting that DuBois’ first major professional study was conceived, cultivated and published in this city and about its citizens, the birthplace of the very nation that spawned the problems of the American Negro. These problems include living in disproportionate levels of poverty, inadequate housing, healthcare and employment opportunities as well as the belief that Negroes and their way of being was the source of their calamity.

The Social Survey Movement that swept the United States and England in from 1880 to 1920 had a strong influence on DuBois’ study, and as Deegan suggests, DuBois’ work on The Philadelphia Negro lends its structure for collecting empirical data from the work of Charles Booth who in turn influences Jane Addams’ work in Chicago which prompted the establishment of the settlement house movement. It is in the College Settlement House where DuBois and his wife lived while he conducted his study of the “Negro problem” using the social survey method. Aside from the inherent prejudice in the notion that affluent white women should assume responsibility for saving poor Black people, The Philadelphia Negro came to fruition at their request.

Although DuBois’ study took place in the late 1890’s, not much has changed in the last one hundred twenty-five years in the ways that White Americans view Black people. Black Americans and other communities of color continue to lambast the legacies of enslavement and colonialism and demand that White America take a good, hard look at what she has done and take responsibility for her actions. The recent and ongoing controversy over teaching or, in many cases, even mentioning the topic of racism in educational and political settings is evidence of the tenacity of White privilege. The refusal to acknowledge and address the residual manifestations of chattel slavery, peonage and segregation is a demonstration of America’s impenetrable and pervasive pursuit to uphold White supremacy as the controversy over Critical Race Theory and its place in American pedagogy rages on. Across many parts of our nation, laws and policies have been implemented and are in the process of being considered at various levels of government that intend to censor conversations in classrooms about the ways that racism has harmed Black Americans and other communities of color, with the state of Florida and the legislation created there to obliterate racial consciousness amongst the citizenry being a prominent example of the persistence of White supremacy. Scholars who helped develop the term Critical Race Theory drew on the scholarship of civil rights leaders like DuBois to flesh out the CRT framework. What is most striking about DuBois’ study of The Philadelphia Negro is the extent to which what he describes happening in Philadelphia’s Seventh Ward in the late 1890s mirrors what can be found in certain section of Philadelphia in 2023.

The Seventh Ward in Philadelphia at the time of DuBois’ study fell between Spruce and South Street to the north and south and from Sixth to Twenty-Third Streets from east to west. At that time, the Seventh Ward was home to the largest Black population in Philadelphia. Ever in flux, the Seventh Ward ebbed and flowed with the tide of African Americans born in the North and the ever flowing migration of southern blacks who were trying to escape the overt discrimination that overran the region after the United States government’s short-lived Reconstruction period. However, the promise of better opportunities for employment, education and housing and less severe racial discrimination were a fleeting illusion for many of the Seventh Ward residents. Many of the Seventh Ward residents experienced staunch racism in the years leading up to the commencement of DuBois’ social experiment in part because of the large Black population in Philadelphia up until the early twentieth century.

The social and political climate in Philadelphia in the 1800s was rife with racial tension. As both the Black and White populations increased and jobs became more scarce, domestic terrorism in Philadelphia flared dramatically. There were several instances of racial attacks instigated by White Philadelphians who resorted to using mob violence against Black residents in South Philadelphia. These took the form of physical attacks on both people and their property. Black homes and churches were vandalized and destroyed, and people were assaulted and killed. The most notorious of these calamities being the Lombard Street Riots that lasted for three days in August 1842. Many of these attacks were precipitated by Black Philadelphians simply enjoying neighborhood amusements and others were precipitated by Black residents celebrating the abolition of slavery in Jamaica. The post-Civil War era was also ripe for devastation as Black voters were terrorized as they tried to exercise this right. Civil rights leader Octavius Catto was shot and killed in the street on Election Day in 1871 for his efforts to encourage Black Philadelphians to vote. These and other racially motivated events served as the backdrop for the community that DuBois would immerse himself and his young family in as he embarked on this innovative exploration of intersectionality in this city.

Much like the Seventh Ward, DuBois was also subject to the ebbs and flow of philosophical evolution over the course of his life. Born into a small predominantly White community in southwestern Massachusetts, DuBois grew up with minimal exposure to racism until he left for college in Tennessee. In the post-Reconstruction South, DuBois learned all too well what many other Black Americans dealt with all of their lives, the staunch, unrelenting racial prejudice that is characteristic of America. From Fisk University, DuBois enrolled at Harvard in the late 1880’s where he also experienced racism, but managed to earn a Bachelor’s degree with honors and continued with his studies to become the first Black man to earn a Doctor of Philosophy degree from that institution. DuBois then studies in Europe and accepted a teaching position at Wilberforce University before accepting the invitation from the University of Pennsylvania to study Philadelphia’s Negro population. Despite the controversy around DuBois’ belief in elitism, communism and chauvinism, DuBois served as an unrelenting civil rights leader who utilized his intellect and voice to champion for basic human rights for Black people. He helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, wrote and promoted literature about the lives and experiences of Black Americans, promoted the concept of Pan-Africanism and Black self-sufficiency. In his study titled The Philadelphia Negro, DuBois used his training in research to chronicle the laws and policies implemented in the city of Philadelphia as well as the colony then state of Pennsylvania to provide a clear and rational case for why Black Philadelphians faced the challenges they did and arguably still do as well as direct the responsibility for Black Americans’ plight at their White oppressors.

The community at George Washington Carver High School for Engineering and Science is unique in that it defies the statistical trends with respect to its demographic composition. Carver students predominantly represent minority groups, and Carver remains one of the highest performing schools in the city of Philadelphia. Beyond the Carver community, the School District of Philadelphia’s schools serve more Black and minority students than white students, making the need to understand the historical context for the cultivation and evolution of the Black Philadelphia. An understanding of the ways that race, class and gender impact the lives and experiences of Black people, both in the present and historically, ideally will lead to more equitable policy and decision making by elected officials that is of course if White America will ever truly come to terms with her sordid past and uproot the racism embedded in her institutions and that which is at her very core.

The need for this curriculum unit is to examine the historical context for the conditions in which Black Philadelphians have tried to exist. Given the current social and economic status of African Americans in the city of Philadelphia this unit seeks to have students understand the context in which the Black Philadelphian has evolved and to allow students to analyze the forces that have and continue to dictate the trajectory of their progression or lack thereof. While this unit is developed around specific events/phenomena that are particular to Philadelphia, much of what students will examine in this unit can be assumed about Black populations in other urban settings. The culminating project can be adapted to a relevant community for students in most locations within and outside of Philadelphia.

This curriculum unit is developed based on the bell schedule at George Washington Carver high School for Engineering and Science. References to a “day” is equal to one class period, which on average is approximately 45 minutes in length. This unit is appropriate for students in high school grades 9-12, but could be adapted for upper middle school students.

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Directions: Before reading, be sure to review the essential questions. While reading, make note of details that you hear that answer the questions.

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Directions: Complete the KWLQ chart below before, during and after reading this article on the life of W.E.B. DuBois.

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Directions: As you read, complete this graphic organizer to record what you learned, found interesting and still want to know more about.

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Directions: As you read “An Atlas For the Wayward,” find and record evidence of the author’s purpose. After reading the chapter, you will write an argumentative essay that analyzes Hartman’s purpose for writing this depiction of DuBois and his time in Philadelphia. Use the spaces provided to record your evidence in planning to write your essay. You may choose to record evidence for one or more purposes if you choose. However you must cite solid evidence that supports the claim you make.

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Directions: In order to expedite our classes reading of W.E.B. DuBois’ sociological study The Philadelphia Negro, you will work in pairs or small groups in a jigsaw reading of an assigned chapter from DuBois’ text. As you and your partner(s) read, please complete the graphic organizer below. Please note that your work will help your classmates write their analyses of DuBois’ work. Please be sure that your responses are thorough.

Graphic Organizer for Philadelphia Negro Jigsaw

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Directions: After examining the surveys and schedules (1-6) in Appendix A, complete the organizer below. Please consider your observations from this activity when you brainstorm for your own social science research project at the end of this unit. Be sure that you give attention to the directions for how each schedule/survey was completed.

Culminating Task-Be a Social Scientist

Crash Course (n.d.). Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois: Crash course Black American history #22.  [Video] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHn-vSTMOWE

DuBois, W.E.B. (1899). The Philadelphia Negro: A social study and history of Pennsylvania’s Black American population; Their education, environment and work. Pantianos Classics

Hartman, S. (2019) Wayward lives, beautiful experiments: Intimate histories of social upheaval. W.W. Norton & Company

Holt, Thomas C. “Du Bois, W. E. B..” African American National Biography. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. Oxford African American Studies Center. https://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/web-dubois

Hutto, C. (2014, Jul. 29) In August 1842, riots broke in Philadelphia and threatened the home of Robert Purvis. What were they called? Historical Society of Pennsylvania. https://hsp.org/blogs/question-of-the-week/in-august-1842-riots-broke-out-in-philadelphia-and-threatened-the-home-of-robert-purvis-what-were-th

Johnson, G. (2019, Feb. 22) The times and life of W.E.B. DuBois at Penn. Penn Today. https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/times-and-life-web-du-bois-penn

Mandell, M. (n.d.) Lombard Street Riots Site. Historical Society of Pennsylvania. http://www.philaplace.org/story/62/

University Quick Course. (n.d.) W.E.B. DuBois’ The Souls of Black Folk: Two Worlds Thesis [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de8MTsguFgU

Common Core Standards Assessed

CC.1.2.9–10.A, CC.1.2.11–12.A: Determine a central idea of a textnd analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.

CC.1.2.9–10.B: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly, as well as inferences and conclusions based on an author’s explicit assumptions and beliefs about a subject. CC.1.2.11–12.A: Determine and analyze the relationship between two or more central ideas of a text, including the development and interaction of the central ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.

CC.1.2.9–10.B: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly, as well as inferences and conclusions based on an author’s explicit assumptions and beliefs about a subject. CC.1.2.11–12.B: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly, as well as inferences and conclusions based on and related to an author’s implicit and explicit assumptions and beliefs.

CC.1.2.9–10.C: Apply appropriate strategies to analyze, interpret, and evaluate how an author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them. CC.1.2.11–12.C: Analyze the interaction and development of a complex set of ideas, sequence of events, or specific individuals over the course of the text.

CC.1.2.9–10.E: Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text. CC.1.2.11–12.E: Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging.

CC.1.2.9–10.H: Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing the validity of reasoning and relevance of evidence. CC.1.2.11–12.H: Analyze seminal texts based upon reasoning, premises, purposes, and arguments.

CC.1.2.9–10.I:Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance, including how they address related themes and concepts. CC.1.2.11–12.I: Analyze foundational U.S. and world documents of historical, political, and literary significance for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features.

CC.1.3.9–10.B: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly, as well as inferences and conclusions based on an author’s explicit assumptions and beliefs about a subject. CC.1.3.11–12.B: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly, as well as inferences and conclusions based on and related to an author’s implicit and explicit assumptions and beliefs.

CC.1.3.9–10.D: Determine the point of view of the text and analyze the impact the point of view has on the meaning of the text. CC.1.3.11–12.E: Evaluate the structure of texts including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the texts relate to each other and the whole.

CC.1.4.9–10.B, CC.1.4.11–12.B:: Write with a sharp, distinct focus identifying topic, task, and audience.

CC.1.4.9–10.D: Organize ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and distinctions; use appropriate and varied transitions to link the major sections of the text; include formatting when useful to aiding comprehension; provide a concluding statement or section. C.1.4.11–12.D: Organize complex ideas, concepts, and information so that each new element builds on that which precedes it to create a whole; use appropriate and varied transitions and syntax to link the major sections of the text; provide a concluding statement or section that supports the information presented; include formatting when useful to aiding comprehension.

CC.1.4.9–10.S: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research, applying grade-level reading standards for literature and literary nonfiction. CC.1.4.11–12.S: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research, applying grade-level reading standards for literature and literary nonfiction.

CC.1.4.9–10.R: Demonstrate a grade-appropriate command of the conventions of standard English grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. CC.1.4.11–12.R: Demonstrate a grade-appropriate command of the conventions of standard English grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.

CC.1.4.9–10.U: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically. CC.1.4.11–12.U: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments and information.

CC.1.4.9–10.V: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. CC.1.4.11–12.V: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self- generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

CC.1.4.9–10.M: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events. CC.1.4.11–12.M: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events.