Criteria of Negro Art

Du Bois, W.E.B. "Criteria of Negro Art." The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader. Ed. David L. Lewis. New York: Viking Penguin, 1994. 100-05. Print.

Although I can appreciate Du Bois’ points and style, I can’t help but feel he began beating a dead horse after the third or fourth essay. The points he is making are much the same as the ones in previous essays, particularly Hokum, and therefore reading on becomes an act of tedious review. I felt that, by the end of this essay, I could have written something that resembled whatever it was that Du Bois actually wrote simply by virtue of his unnecessarily repetitious language. There are only so many ways to say the exact same thing before people begin looking the other way. Perhaps it is not a dead horse, but a bored one.

In this essay, Du Bois is arguing that, yet again, all aspects of black life in America is merely the reflection of presumptions and assertions made by the dominant whites. While this is true, I do not believe Du Bois gives white society as much credit as they deserve. Nor does he give his fellow blacks the credit they deserve. In his continued argument for distinguished black art, Du Bois manages to segregate further the blacks and the whites in society. Rather than speak of humanity as a whole, he reinforces black and white. While pointing out that black art is good in its own right without the acceptance of white minds he is further underlining the racial divide. Instead of writing on the merits of black art, he writes on the supposed propaganda inherent in art and art acceptance and how black art must reflect white expectations. It is getting old, and, as I said, Du Bois needs to find a different topic to preach on. We get it: move on.