W. E. B.

Du Bois and the Idea of Double Consciousness

Author(s): Dickson D. Bruce Jr.
Source: American Literature, Vol. 64, No. 2 (Jun., 1992), pp. 299-309
Published by: Duke University Press
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DicksonD. W. E. B. Du BoisandtheIdea
BruceJr. ofDoubleConsciousness

Asscholarshavedevelopeda greaterunderstanding
ofthe importance ofAfricanAmericanliterature to theAmericantradi-
tion,theyhavealso developeda realappreciation forthecriticalplace of
the thoughtofW.E. B. Du Bois in boththatliterature and thattradition
in thetwentieth theyhavefocusedon thefamous
century.In particular,
passage fromDu Bois's 1897Atlanticmagazineessay, "Strivingsofthe
Negro People"-later republished, withrevisions,in TheSouls o Black
Folk (1903)-in whichDu Bois spoke of an AfricanAmerican"double
consciousness,"a "two-ness"ofbeing"anAmerican,a Negro;twowar-
ringidealsin one darkbody,whosedoggedstrength alonekeeps itfrom
beingtornasunder."1
Du Bois's use oftheideaofdoubleconsciousnesstocharacterize issues
ofrace was provocative andunanticipated; however,as has onlyoccasion-
allybeennotedandneverreallypursued,thetermitselfhada longhistory
by the timeDu Bois publishedhis essay in 1897. Du Bois wroteabout
doubleconsciousnessina waythatdrewheavilyon thathistoryto create
a fairlycoherentpatternofconnotations in boththeessay and the later
book. The backgroundof meaningwhichthe termevokedwouldhave
been familiarto many,ifnotmost,ofthe educatedmiddle-and upper-
class readers of theAtlantic,one of the foremostpopularjournalsof
lettersoftheday,andshouldhavecontributed muchto theunderstanding
ofDu Bois's arguments bythosereaders.
In usingtheterm"doubleconsciousness,"Du Bois drewon twomain
sources. One ofthese was essentiallyfigurative, a productofEuropean
Romanticism and AmericanTranscendentalism. The other,notentirely
unrelatedand mentionedbriefly by historianArnoldRampersadin his

?) 1992 by Duke Uni-

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 Literature
300 American

own analysisof Du Bois's work,was initially medical,carriedforward

intoDu Bois's timebytheemergingfieldofpsychology. Here the term
"doubleconsciousness"was appliedto cases ofsplitpersonality; by the
late nineteenth century,it had come intoquite generaluse not onlyin
professional butalso indiscussionsofpsychological
publications research
publishedforgeneralaudiencesas well.2
The figurative sourcesforDu Bois's ideaofdoubleconsciousnessarein
some waysthemosttelling.Although one can identifyfromnineteenth-
centuryliteratureseveralpossibleprecedentsforDu Bois's use of the
term-fromWhittier, forexample,or GeorgeEliot-WernerSollorshas
describedthisfigurative background as Emersonian,and indeedone of
the earliestsuch occurrencesof the termmaybe foundin Emerson's
works. In an 1843 essay entitled"The Transcendentalist," a piece he
had deliveredearlieras a lecture,Emersonemployedtheterm"double
consciousness"to referto a problemin thelifeofone seekingto takea
Transcendental perspectiveon selfandworld.Constantly, he wrote,the
individualis pulledbackfrom thedivineby thedemands of dailylife.The
Transcendentalist knows"momentsofillumination," and thismakeshis
situationall the moredifficult,because he thensees his life,fromthe
perspectivethosemomentscreate,as toomuchdominated bymeanness
andinsignificance. As Emerson wrote, "The worst feature ofthisdouble
consciousnessis, thatthetwolives,oftheunderstanding andofthesoul,
whichhe leads, reallyshowverylittlerelationto eachother:one prevails
now,all buzz anddin;theotherprevailsthen,all infinitude andparadise;
and,with the progress of the
life, two discover no greater dispositionto
reconcilethemselves."Concernedwithdifferent issues, Emersonused
thetermin a waythatwas notexactlythesame as Du Bois's. But there
was morethanenoughsimilarity to makeEmerson'sa usefulbackground
to whatDu Bois was trying to say.3
In Emerson'sessay, "double-consciousness" evokeda set of opposi-
tionsthathadbecomecommonplace inTranscendentalism, and,as other
scholarshave shown,in Romanticism generally.In the passage itself
was a dichotomy between"theunderstanding" and "thesoul,"buteven
thatreferredto a moregeneralset, all organizedarounda centraldivi-
sion betweenworldand spirit.The doubleconsciousnessplaguingthe
Transcendentalist summarizedthe downwardpull of lifein society-
includingthe social forcesinhibiting genuineself-realization-andthe
upwardpullofcommunion withthedivine;theapparentchaos ofthings-
as-they-are andtheunityofNaturecomprehended byuniversallaw; and

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 Du Bois'sIdeaofDoubleConsciousness301

thedemanding, coldrationality ofcommercial societyandthesearchfor

Truth,Beauty,and Goodness-especially Beauty-that ennobledthe
soul. Humanbeings,in the world,couldnotescape its downwardpull.
The worldly was an essentialpartoflivingone's life.The Transcendental
doubleconsciousnessgrewoutofan awarenessthatNatureandthesoul
were so muchmore.4
A similarset ofoppositionswas an important partofDu Bois's argu-
mentin his "Strivingsof the NegroPeople." Although in the essay Du
Bois used "doubleconsciousness"to referto at least threedifferent
issues-includingfirstthereal powerofwhitestereotypesin blacklife
and thoughtand second the doubleconsciousnesscreatedby the prac-
ticalracismthatexcludedeveryblackAmericanfromthemainstream of
thesociety,thedoubleconsciousnessofbeingbothan Americanandnot
an American-by doubleconsciousnessDu Bois referredmostimpor-
tantlyto an internalconflict in theAfricanAmericanindividual between
whatwas "African" andwhatwas "American." Itwas intermsofthisthird
sense thatthefigurative background to "doubleconsciousness"gave the
termitsmostobvioussupport,because forDu Bois theessence ofa dis-
tinctiveAfricanconsciousnesswas its spirituality, based in
a spirituality
AfricabutrevealedamongAfrican Americansin theirfolklore, theirhis-
toryofpatientsuffering, andtheirfaith.In thissense, doubleconscious-
ness relatedparticularly to Du Bois's effortsto privilegethe spiritualin
relationto thematerialistic,commercial worldofwhiteAmerica."Negro
bloodhas a message fortheworld,"he wrote,and thismessage, as he
hadbeen sayingsinceat least 1888,was ofa spiritual sense anda soften-
inginfluence thatblackpeoplecouldbringto a coldandcalculating world.
WhatShermanPaul says ofEmerson'sstresson the"feminine eye" one
mayalso say of Du Bois's stress on the Africansoul, thatit serves as
an alternativeto a dominant inabilityto "see" apartfromthepossibilities
foractionandprofit, a notionDu Bois playedon when,guidedbyhis im-
portantfigureofthe"veil,"he describedtheAfrican Americanas gifted
witha kindof"secondsight." 5
Using"doubleconsciousness"thusplacedtheAfricanspirituality Du
Bois soughtto celebratein connectionwitha more generalbody of
Romanticideas and imagery.Du Bois reinforced thisconnectionwitha
web of allusionsand oppositions, allusions drawn fromRomanticism as
well as fromEmersonianTranscendentalism. Some have been notedin
the past; othershave not.Sollors,forexample,has citedthe Goethean
basis forDu Bois's imageofthe "twosouls warringin one darkbody,"

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 Literature
302 American

referring back to Faust's anguishedcry that"Two souls, alas! reside

withinmybreast,/Andeach withdraws from,andrepels,itsbrother," a
passage thatJoelPortehas arguedwas probablya sourceforthe ideas
to whichEmersonhimselfappliedtheterm"doubleconsciousness."Du
Bois also contrastedwhathe describedas a blackAmerican"hopeofa
highersynthesisofcivilization andhumanity" withan alternative search
for"reception intocharmedsocialcirclesofstock-jobbers, pork-packers,
and earl-hunters," callingto mindnot onlythe Emersoniandistinction
betweenthematerialandtheidealbutalso theEmersonianidentification
ofthematerialwiththe"buzzanddin"ofcommercial society.Whatever
else Du Bois thought oftheAfrican character andofitsdistinctivespiritu-
ality,whenhe spokeofitintermsofdoubleconsciousnessandembedded
itina web ofreadilyidentifiable intermsof
allusions,he gaveitdefinition
a moregeneralRomantic recognitionofthehumansoul. Converting what
had oftenbeen a racistor racialistprimitivism intoa Romanticprimitiv-
ism, he lentmuchmoreweightto his assertionof the possibilityof an
Africanmessage to theworld.6
Such a conversionwas a majorsourceoftheappealofDu Bois's pre-
sentationofAfrican as an alternative
spirituality tomaterialism.Farfrom
offering an eccentric"message,"African Americanidealsoffered a pos-
sible directionforAmericansocietythatcould be appreciatedby Du
Bois's readers.As suchscholarsas KarlMillerandJacksonLears have
stressed, in the rapidlyindustrializing UnitedStates of the late nine-
teenthcenturytherewas a real hunger,especiallyon the part of the
middleclass, fora revivalofthespiritual;therewas even,as Millerand
HenriEllenbergerhaveargued,a renewedinterestthroughout theWest
in Romanticconceptionsofhumannatureandhumanpossibility, includ-
ingthatpositivesense ofalienation thatThomasHolthas discussedwith
regardto Du Bois's ideas. Double consciousnessand the collectionof
Romanticallusionsin whichit was placedthushelpedto give definition
to thepositivesense ofAfrican andAfrican Americandistinctiveness Du
Bois was trying to develop,andto offer inthe"African"a kindofalterna-
tiveto Americanmaterialism withwhichmanyinan educatedreadership
couldsympathize. It is notsurprising,then,thatwhenDu Bois gavea still
fullerstatement ofhisviewsinTheSoulsofBlackFolkhe also elaborated
on thesame patternofallusions,eveninhisattackon thematerialism of
BookerWashington.7
Still,tellingas thefigurative background to doubleconsciousnessmay
havebeen, thatbackground was supplemented inimportant waysbythe

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 Du Bois'sIdeaofDoubleConsciousness303

psychological sources thatgave additional meaningto Du Bois's idea of

doubleconsciousness.Despite theworkofsuchscholarsas KarlMiller
andHenriEllenberger, thereremainsan unexplored pathbetweena gen-
eral concernaboutdualityas an elementofEuropeanRomanticism and
AmericanTranscendentalism, and the workofthosemedicalscientists
who developed"doubleconsciousness"as a diagnosticterm,one with
a well-defined technicalmeaningby the timeDu Bois used it. Again,
ArnoldRampersadhas notedsomething ofthispsychologicalbackground
to "doubleconsciousness,"citingits appearancein OswaldKuilpe's1893
psychologytextas well as the use of the idea, ifnot the term,in The
PrinciplesofPsychology, writtenby Du Bois's HarvardmentorWilliam
Jamesand publishedin 1890 at theverytimeDu Bois was at Harvard.
But, in fact,as a medicalterm"doubleconsciousness"alreadyhad a
longhistoryby the 1890s, havingbeen the subjectof ratherextensive
experimentation and debateforat least seventy-five years. One cannot
reallyidentify withcertainty the firstuse of "doubleconsciousness"in
the medicalliterature.Certainlyit came fairlyearlyin the nineteenth
century,even antedating Emerson'sapplication ofit to Transcendental-
ism. Its lengthyhistoryofdevelopment hadgreatrelevanceto Du Bois's
ownuse of"doubleconsciousness"in "Strivings oftheNegroPeople."8
In 1817,in a New Yorkprofessional journalcalledtheMedicalReposi-
tory,an accountheaded"A DoubleConsciousness,ora DualityofPerson
inthesame Individual" madeuse ofthetermina waythatremainedfairly
constantforpsychology through thenineteenth century.The accountwas
ofa youngwoman-lateridentified as MaryReynolds-whoat aboutage
nineteenfellintoa deep sleep fromwhichshe awokewithno memoryof
whoshe was andwitha whollydifferent personality.A fewmonthslater,
afteragainfallingintoa deep sleep,she awokeas heroldself.Atthetime
ofthe 1817account,she hadperiodically alternatedselvesfora periodof
aboutfouryears.As itturnedout,thiswas tocontinue foraboutfifteenor
sixteenyearsin total,untilin hermid-thirties she permanently entered
thesecondstate.Her twoliveswereentirely separate;whileinone, she
had no knowledgeor memoryoftheother.Suchutterdistinctiveness of
thetwoselves was whatmadetheeditorsoftheMedicalRepository refer
to hersas a case of"doubleconsciousness."9
As a resultof the MaryReynoldscase, the term"doubleconscious-
ness" enteredintofairly extensiveuse. For example,FrancisWayland's
influentialmid-nineteenth-century textbookElementsofIntellectual Phi-
losophy treatedtheconceptofdoubleconsciousnessas partofa general

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 Literature
304 American

discussionof consciousnessas suchand recountedthe Mary Reynolds

case alongwitha fewothersby way of illustration. An 1860 articlein
Harper'salso focusedon theReynoldscase andon doubleconsciousness
as a medicaland philosophical issue. As a medicalterm,then,it was
hardlyconfined to theuse ofmedicalprofessionals.10
DuringthetimeDu Bois was formulating hisideasofAfrican American
distinctiveness,therehadbeenrenewedinterest indoubleconsciousness
as a medicaland theoretical issue. Most important forDu Bois was the
role ofhis HarvardmentorWilliamJames.Jamesstimulated thisinter-
est, notonlyinhisPrinciples-indescribing whathe called"alternating
selves" or "primary and secondaryconsciousness,"he drewon a body
of contemporary Frenchworkwhichhad been widelypublicizedin the
UnitedStates as well-but also as a resultofhis ownexperienceabout
1890witha notableAmericancase ofdoubleconsciousness,thatofAnsel
Bourne.James'sworkwithBourne(whosediscoverer, RichardHodgson,
diduse "doubleconsciousness"to labelthecase), as wellas theAmerican
publicationofthe Frenchstudieson whichJamesdrew,occurredat the
same timeDu Bois's relationship withJameswas at itsclosest.Whether
Jamesand Du Bois talkedaboutit at the timeis impossibleto say,but
based on Du Bois's use of "doubleconsciousness"in hisAtlanticessay
he certainlyseems to haveknowntheterm'spsychological background,
because he used itin waysquiteconsistent withthatbackground.1"
The psychological literatureof doubleconsciousnesslookeddirectly
to the issue ofdistinctiveness as thatissue was developedin Du Bois's
essay. Du Bois discusseddistinctiveness within a framework providedby
severalimplications thatJamesand othershad drawnout,providing an
intellectualstructure consistent with thegeneral thrustofhis argument.
For one thing,the psychological idea of doubleconsciousnessfurther
reinforced whatDu Bois had emphasizedas the genuinelyalternative
characterofAfricanAmericanideals. In theclassiccases ofdoublecon-
sciousness,thedualpersonalities werenotjustdifferent fromeach other
but were inevitably in opposition.MaryReynoldsin her firststate was
"sedate, soberand pensive";in hersecond,"gayand cheerful,extrava-
gantlyfondofsociety,offunandpractical jokes." Similarcontrastswere
drawnin othercases. Double consciousnessthusentaileda real opposi-
tionbetweenthetwoconsciousnessesconfined withina singlebody.12
Moreover,as earlierwritershadmadeplain,inclassiccases ofdouble
consciousness,although thecondition itselfwas clearlyabnormal, itcould
notbe said thateitherpersonality was moreobviously"normal"or func-

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 Du Bois'sIdeaofDoubleConsciousness305

tionalthanthe other.In theReynoldscase, forexample,commentators

notedherintellectual acuityinbothstates,as wellas thefactthat,settling
permanently in her secondstate,she neverthelessspentherremaining
years as a productive,respectable,and respectedmemberof society.
Ofanotherinfluential case, thatoftheyoungFrenchwomanFelidaX, it
was emphasizedthatshe showedbothintelligence and a good sense of
morality inbothstates,ifa weakerwillinhersecondself.
Such a background ofideas andfactsmadetheconceptofdoublecon-
sciousness especiallyusefulto Du Bois, givenhis desire to developa
positivesense ofracialdistinctiveness outofa distinctivelyAfrican heri-
tage. Ideas ofrace andbehaviorwereproblematic in thelatenineteenth
century.Notionsof "culture"and, especially,of anything like cultural
relativism wererudimentary andnotwidespreadat thetime."Race"itself
carriedbiologicalconnotations-connotations not entirelyabsentfrom
Du Bois's discussion-thatweretroublesome, sincebiologicalnotionsof
race servedmainlyto groundthosebeliefsconcerning blackinferiority
whichwere generallyacceptedbywhites.Thus, forgood reason,black
writersand intellectualsfeltreal ambivalenceaboutthe kindsof ideas
aboutracialdistinctiveness Du Bois was trying to portray,howeverposi-
tivetheymightappearon the surface.Indeed,Du Bois himselfshowed
suchambivalencein otherwritings fromthisperiod.13
Because theidea ofdoubleconsciousnessexplicitly emphasizedthein-
of
tegrity distinctive in
states theindividual whowas itssubject,ithelped
Du Bois to get aroundthe dilemmahis idea of distinctiveness so long
had posed. Double consciousnessallowedfora sense ofdistinctiveness
thatreallydidentailequality,a sense ofdistinctiveness thatdidnotimply
inferiority.It gave himpreciselythevocabularyhe neededto makethe
case he wantedto make. In the absence of anykindof adequate idea
ofculturalrelativism, theidea ofdoubleconsciousnessallowedDu Bois
to talkabout an Africanmode of thoughtand whatwe wouldnow call
a culturalconflict betweentheAfricanand theAmericanin a wayvery
likethatmade possiblebya notionofrelativism. Thus he couldbase his
discussionon a bodyofpsychological knowledgemorefirmly established
duringhis time,one identifying the possibilityof differentbut equally
functional waysofdealingwiththeworld.
None of thiswas to minimizeforhimthe tragiccharacterofAfrican
Americanlife.One ofthethingshis use oftheconceptdidwas to imply
thatifwhatwas distinctive was notto be seen as abnormal, thecondition
ofAfricanAmericans-giventhe rootsofdoubleconsciousness-was.

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306 American
Literature

Evenas theRomantic idea,withitsechoesofSturmundDrang,high-

lighted thedifficulty
ofresolution inthewarbetween incompatible souls,
so toothepsychological literature stressed Alltheaccounts
itsdifficulty.
ofdoubleconsciousness reported itssufferers' greatanguish, theirreal
unhappiness uponbecoming awareoftheir condition, theirdesiretopos-
sess a singleindividualself.
Du Bois obviously didnotbreakfrom sucha treatment. Forhimthe
essenceofdoubleconsciousness wasitsproblematic characteras a symp-
tomofthedifficulty thatlayintherealization ofanytrueselfconscious-
ness,ofanysenseofselfbeyond theproblematic senseconveyed inthe
dilemma as such.
Du Boisdidproposea kindofresolution, atleastforthatdoublecon-
sciousness of"African"and"American" selves.Itwas,hewrote,forthe
African American "tomergehisdoubleselfintoa betterandtruerself,"
losing"neither oftheolderselves."Ifthedilemma was knownto the
Romantics andthepsychologists alike,Du Bois'srhetoric ofresolution
drewwithspecialclarity onthemedical background. Du Bois'smentor
William Jameshadspeculated onthepossibility ofa realcureforalter-
nating consciousness involving notthevictory ofoneovertheotherbuta
processwhereby "thedissociated systems cametogether," resulting ina
third,newSelf,"different from theothertwo,butknowing theirobjects
together." FrancisWayland, inhisearliertext,hadciteda case ofjust
sucha cureof"doubleconsciousness," oneinwhich a young woman's re-
coverywasmarked by"theblending together oftheknowledge acquired
in[her]separateconditions," a blending succeeded bya processinwhich
thetwoconsciousnesses "becamemoreandmoreidentified untilthetes-
timony ofconsciousness becameuninterrupted andthentheabnormal
statevanished altogether." MaryReynolds's settling inhersecondstate
wasnota cure;sheoften mourned forwhatshehadlostwithherinitial
self.Curecameinsynthesis, which Wayland andlaterJamesbelievedto
be possible.14
Du Boishimself wasnotentirely certainaboutthepossibility ofsuch
a synthesis. TheAtlantic essayinparticular leavesthequestionopen,
focusing moreontheproblem thanonanypossibility foritsresolution.
OnereasonforthismayhavebeenthatDu Boiswasattempting a rhetori-
cal synthesis ofhisown,onethatwasnoteasyto accomplish, between
twokeysensesofdoubleconsciousness-the one createdbyracism;
theother, byconflicting
perspectives onlife-neverreally distinguishing
betweenthemhimself. Thekeydifference between thetwowasa ques-

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 Du Bois'sIdeaofDoubleConsciousness307

tionofwill.The mergingofAfrican andAmericanselveswas, or at least

couldbe, an act ofwill,andDu Bois so treatedit. The mergingofselves
createdbyAmericanracismwas not.By treating thedistinction loosely,
Du Bois mayhave been hopingto make the latterseem more manage-
able, an aspectofa moregeneralduality.But,as theAtlanticessay itself
indicates,the resolutionwas one Du Bois himselfhad notfullyworked
out,andneithertheEmersoniannorthepsychological despite
literature,
theoptimism ofthelatter,gave him much of a guidefor how to do it.
One cannotknowforcertainhowfamiliar Du Bois was withalltheback-
groundon doubleconsciousnesseitherfromliterary or medicalsources.
His use ofthe termsuggeststhathe was familiar withboth;thereis no
compellingevidencethathe soughtto be closer to or moreconsistent
withone or the other.Instead,whenhe talkedaboutdoubleconscious-
ness, Du Bois was usinga termthatset up a varietyofconnotations for
the educatedreader,thusmakingan effort to give his readersa refer-
ence pointon the basis of whichto understand the tragedyof racism,
especiallyfortheself-conscious andalso to appreciatehisown
individual,
programfora new definition of whatit meantto be blackin America.
The continuing influenceof his worksuggeststhe extentto whichhe
succeeded.

Irvine
ofCalifornia,
University

Notes

1 W.E. B. Du Bois, "Strivingsof the Negro People,"Atlantic80 (August

1897): 194; Du Bois, TheSoulsofBlackFolk(1903;rpt.,NewYork:Penguin,
1989), 5.
2 ArnoldRampersad,TheArt and Imaginationof W E. B. Du Bois (1976;
rpt.,New York:Schocken,1990), 74.
3 JohnGreenleafWhittier, "AmongtheHills,"in The WorksofJohn Greenleaf
Whittier, 7 vols. (Boston: Houghton,Mifflin,1892), 1:274; George Eliot,
"The LiftedVeil,"in The CompleteWorksof GeorgeEliot, 20 vols. (Bos-
ton: ColonialPress, n.d.) 20:281, 313; WernerSollors,BeyondEthnicity:
Consentand DescentinAmericanCulture(New York:OxfordUniv.Press,
1986), 249. See also Sollors,"OfMules andMares ina Land ofDifference;
or, QuadrupedsAll?"AmericanQuarterly 42 (1990): 182; and RalphWaldo
Emerson,"The Transcendentalist," in TheSelectedWritingsofRalphWaldo
Emerson,ed. BrooksAtkinson(New York:ModernLibrary,1940), 100.
4 Self.A Perspective
TheDivided
MasaoMiyoshi, oftheVic-
ontheLiterature
torians(New York:New YorkUniv.Press, 1969),esp. chap.2; KarlMiller,

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308 AmericanLiterature

Doubles:Studiesin Literary History(New York:OxfordUniv.Press, 1985),

21. Whittier's use oftheterm,whichoccurredin 1869,verymuchcaptured
thisEmersoniansense.
5 Du Bois, "Strivings," 194, 195; ShermanPaul, Emerson'sAngleofVision:
Man and NatureinAmericanExperience (Cambridge:HarvardUniv.Press,
1952),76-77; see NathanHuggins,"W.E. B. Du BoisandHeroes,"Amerika-
studien34 (1989): 172-73.WilsonMoses notesthe"feminine aestheticism"
ofthetradition ofa romanticizedimageryofAfricaon whichDu Bois drew,
in his article"The PoeticsofEthiopianism: W.E. B. Du Bois and Literary
BlackNationalism," AmericanLiterature 47 (1975): 415. It was to describea
kindof"secondsight,"one mightnote,thatEliotused theterminherstory
withtheinteresting title"The LiftedVeil."
6 JohannWolfgangVon Goethe, Faust, trans. BayardTaylor(New York:
Arden,n.d.), 68; Sollors,"OfMules and Mares," 182; JoelPorte, "Emer-
son, Thoreau,and the Double Consciousness,"NewEnglandQuarterly 41
(1968): 41, 50; Du Bois, "Strivings,"197; Emerson,SelectedWritings, 100.
Du Bois's stresson an Africanspirituality was, ofcourse,farfromnew in
itself,and maybe tied to whatGeorge Fredrickson has labeled "Roman-
ticracialism,"originating withtheabolitionists, or whatWilsonMoses has
describedas "Ethiopianism." See GeorgeFredrickson, TheBlack Imagein
theWhiteMind: TheDebateonAfro-American Character and Destiny,1817-
1914 (NewYork:Harper,1971),103; Moses, "ThePoeticsofEthiopianism,"
411-26 passim.
7 Miller,Doubles,especially221; HenriF. Ellenberger,TheDiscoveryofthe
Unconscious:TheHistoryand EvolutionofDynamicPsychiatry (New York:
Basic Books, 1970),278ff.;T. J.JacksonLears,No Place ofGrace:Antimod-
ernismand theTransformation ofAmerican Culture,1880-1920(New York:
Pantheon,1981), chap. 1; ThomasHolt,"The PoliticalUses ofAlienation:
W.E. B. Du Bois on Politics,Race, and Culture,1903-1940,"American
Quarterly 42 (1990): 301-23; Du Bois, Souls, e.g., 38, 43.
8 Miller,Doubles,241ff.;Ellenberger, Discovery oftheUnconscious, 166.
9 Samuel L. Mitchell,"A Double Consciousness,or a Dualityof Person in
the same Individual," MedicalRepository n.s. 3 (1817): 185-86; WilliamS.
Plumer,"MaryReynolds:A Case of Double Consciousness,"Harper's20
(May 1860): 807-12.
10 FrancisWayland,TheElementsofIntellectual Philosophy (Boston: Phillips,
Sampson,1855), 115,423-26; Plumer,"MaryReynolds," passim.
11 WilliamJames,ThePrinciplesofPsychology, 2 vols. (1890; rpt.,New York:
Dover, 1950), 1:393. Foran exampleoftheFrenchwork,see AlfredBinet,
"Proofof Double Consciousnessin HystericalIndividuals,"Open Court
3 (1889): 1739-41. On Bourne,see Ellenberger, DiscoveryoftheUncon-
scious,134-35, 177n.
12 Plumer,"MaryReynolds," 808; J.Elliotson,"DualConsciousness,"Cornhill
35 (1877): 90-91.

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 Du Bois's Idea ofDouble Consciousness 309

13 On Du Bois's ideas aboutrace as a concept,see AnthonyAppiah,"The Un-

completedArgument: Du Bois andtheIllusionofRace," in"Race,"Writing,
and Difference,ed. HenryLouis GatesJr.(Chicago:Univ.ofChicagoPress,
1986), 27-29.
14 Du Bois, "Strivings,"195; James,Principles,1:399; Wayland,Elements,
115-16.

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