Soon afterwards, while teaching at the University of
Pennsylvania, he conducted extensive sociological research which
resulted in "The Philadelphia Negro". This pioneering sociological
work was valuable for the understanding of the Negro in
Philadelphia and throughout the North, At that time sociology was
a new field, and there was not a single institution of higher
learning in the United States or the world which had adopted it
as the tool for studying the problems of minority groups. Atlanta
University invited DuBois to come there and teach and to conduct
sociological studies. There he began a research department which
was devoted to studying the problems of the Afro-American
community and which resulted in the production of a dozen works.
Besides his interest in scholarly research, DuBois developed a
theory of racial leadership. For a people to advance, he
believed, they needed leaders. If they failed to develop such
people of their own, they would be guided by others. DuBois was
doubtful whether his people should entrust themselves to white
leaders. He agreed with Washington that the masses would have to
make their living with their hands, and he also believed that it
was important for them to develop skills which would help them.
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