W.E.B. Du Bois was one of a handful of scholars of the 20th century with a sustained global impact on sociological, literary, and political knowledge.

In this installment of the Core lecture series, Aldon Morris, Ph.D. draws on evidence from his recent multiple award-winning book, “The Scholar Denied: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology,” to demonstrate that Du Bois was the founding father of scientific sociology in the United States; that is, American scientific sociology was founded in a segregated black university by a black man. This disconfirms the accepted wisdom that American scientific sociology was founded solely by white sociologists in elite white universities.

Morris’ talk explores the methods Du Bois pioneered and his novel theorizing that laid the foundations for subsequent sociological analyses. It offers an account of the dynamic forces that generate scientific schools of thought and that undergirded knowledge production in social science during Du Bois’ era. The talk also explores the relevance of activism for modern social science more broadly.