Black Writers
By: Sonia Gosain
Booker T. Washington
Although Ellison's opinion towards Washington is ambiguous, Washington's influence on the book cannot be denied. Booker T. Washington is best known as the founder of the Tuskegee Institute. Washington was a powerful speaker, but was often criticized for his views. He preferred a more accomodationist attitude in regards to race relations. Many people argued that Washington's submissiveness was an indication of his preference towards white people. Because Washington was a successful and rich man, he was accused of putting on airs. TIM's college closely models Washington's Tuskegee Institute, and Bledsoe may even be a representative of Washington's opinion. The young naive TIM aspires to the greatness of Booker T. Washington. His valedictory speech at the Battle Royal is the exact same speech given by Washington at the Atlanta Exposition in 1895. It is no doubt exciting when
he is propositioned by the Brotherhood to be the next Booker T. Washington.
Frederick Douglass
As one of the first great leaders of African Americans, Frederick Douglass is displayed as a paragon of assertiveness and confidence. Douglass believed in the power of the Constitution and the faith of the people. His rebelliousness, independence, and endearing sentiment link him to TIM's grandfather. When Brother Tarp gives TIM a portrait of Frederick Douglass, TIM decides to change his career focus. He now wants to accomplish all that Douglass accomplished, but TIM does not know what he is saying. Not only does TIM confuse the facts of Douglass' life, but TIM also does not realize how unlike Frederick Douglass he is. Tim is too naive and too much the opposite of Frederick Douglass' beliefs. Douglass' independence and ideals prevented him from ever selling out to work for an organization, whereas Tim belongs to the Brotherhood.
W.E.B. DuBois
As one of the most powerful and influential writers of all time, W.E.B. DuBois represented the strife of the black man better than those of his time. Ralph Ellison, when writing Invisible Man, no doubt referred to elements of The Souls of Black Folk. The major theme in The Souls of Black Folk was that of the veil that separated black and white. DuBois felt "shut out from [the] world by a vast veil. I had thereafter no desire to tear down that veil, to creep through; I held all beyond it in common contempt" (DuBois 4). Throughout Invisible Man, Ellison employs a similar veil as a theme. TIM often contemplates his feelings of duality while DuBois describes a "two-ness, --an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body..." (DuBois 5). In part of DuBois's literary style, he often questions what America would be like without black people. Ellison, via Invisible Man, responds by asserting that America would not exist as the world knows it without black men.
Alain Locke
Alain Locke, one of the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance, is most famous for his essay entitled The New Negro. Locke believed that a black man's migration from the South to the North was a psychologically liberating experience. Ellison examines this theory through TIM's move from college. His migration does change his opinions and alter his ideals. Locke regarded the Negro as a "forced Radical," and Ellison asserted that through Invisible Man and his feelings. Above all, Locke thought that each man should be himself and think for himself. By the end of the novel, TIM has realized that he needs to do things for himself as opposed to pleasing others.