After emerging from Philadelphia’s Black 7th Ward at the turn of the century with groundbreaking sociological research disproving the prevailing thought of the day that Blacks were inherently inferior to Whites, and even after writing two major books, including the Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, W.E.B. DuBois still couldn’t get a job teaching at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1890s.

That changed Friday when the university’s board of trustees unanimously voted to posthumously appoint DuBois Honorary Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies. Arthur McFarlane, great-grandson of DuBois, received the resolution that granted his great-grandfather a professorship.  

More than a century ago, the University of Pennsylvania gave the promising Black sociologist a stipend to study the plight of the Philadelphia Negro and the title associate lecturer, but, like other White institutions then, it wasn’t willing to risk its academic reputation by allowing a Black man to teach Whites. During the nearly year and a half that DuBois canvassed the city’s 7th Ward, the university also denied him an office.

The culmination of DuBois’ research, The Philadelphia Negro, became the first scientific sociological study of race. In the book, Dubois laid bare the social problems plaguing Philadelphia’s Black community, most of which stemmed from racial marginalization. Education was key among the author’s recommendations for social reform.

But despite the “absurd limitations” DuBois experienced in the academy, said a jubilant Tukufu Zuberi, professor and chairman of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, “he rose above them, giving sociology its first scientific text, The Philadelphia Negro, void of the racism that plagued the intellectual atmosphere at that time.”  Zuberi led the campaign for DuBois’ unprecedented posthumous faculty appointment.