Title: Sociology of W.E.B. Du Bois: Why Du Bois Is the Founder of American Scientific Sociology

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 paper, Morris will draw on evidence from his forthcoming book with the University of California Press 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 paper disconfirms the accepted wisdom that American scientific sociology was founded solely by white sociologists in elite white universities. This paper will explore the methods Du Bois pioneered and his novel theorizing that laid the foundations for subsequent sociological analyses.  The paper will offer an account of the dynamic forces that generate scientific schools of thought and that undergirded knowledge production in social sciences during Du Bois’ era.