THE CEA FORUM - Winter/Spring 2013 - To Be a Co-Worker in the Kingdom of Culture

Oct 15, 2026

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Text presents a forum paper titled “To Be a Co-Worker in the Kingdom of Culture” for the CEA Forum Winter/Spring 2013. It uses W.E.B. DuBois’s early 1900s concept of citizenship to argue for inclusion in national culture, then contrasts optimistic claims with ongoing evidence of segregation and discrimination. It critiques the difficulty of dialogue created by white denial and proposes classroom-based change through AAC&U’s Inclusive Excellence and LEAP frameworks, emphasizing equity, critical thinking, and high-impact teaching practices.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages29

Reading Time1 h 13 min

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To Be a Co-Worker in the Kingdom of Culture

DuBois on citizenship and cultural participation

Barriers to dialogue and persistence of segregation

Inclusive Excellence and LEAP as educational responses

Equity-focused teaching and high-impact practices

THE CEA FORUM Winter/Spring 2013 To Be a Co-Worker in the Kingdom of Culture Trudi Witonsky University of Wisconsin-Whitewater In the introduction to his 1903 ground-breaking, seminal work, The Souls of Black Folks, W.E. B. DuBois states his conception of what citizenship would mean for African Americans at the beginning of the twentieth century: “This, then, is the end of his striving: to be a co-worker in the kingdom of culture, to escape both death and isolation, to husband and use his best powers and his latent genius”(11) . In other words, African Americans desire to participate in the U.S. democratic, national culture as fellow citizens, and to develop whatever talents and abilities they have, without being killed or ostracized. With the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, many white Americans have declared that, in essence, DuBois’ call has been answered; now anyone can participate in the nation’s culture, anyone can succeed. At the same time, numerous researchers and activists point to compelling evidence that high levels of racial segregation and discrimination persist, affecting everything from child mortality rates, to access to education, to earnings, to life expectancy. Clearly there is a need for a national dialogue that addresses the distance between perception and reality. In White Like Me, Tim Wise describes some of the attitudes that make such dialogue difficult, citing a white citizen’s response: “Aw . . . . all that stuff1 is in the past. It’s time to move on and get with the program”(65) . As White observes, such comments convey the extent to which many whites still see themselves as defining national culture: THE CEA FORUM Winter/Spring 2013 And there you had it. The program; the one that he of course assumed was fair and just, and that he had a right to define, and that others had merely to agree to join. It never occurred to him, nor has it occurred to most whites, that black folks, among other people of color in this land, have every bit as much right as whites to not only join or not join a given “program,” but what’s more to set the terms of the national program itself. (Wise 65)2 When the “program” as it is, doesn’t work for whites, politicians often encourage them to blame minorities or immigrants instead of looking at root causes of the problem (loss of manufacturing sector to overseas labor, the recession, etc.) .3 To foster a more constructive and inclusive dialogue in classrooms and develop national dialogue, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has developed an initiative called Inclusive Excellence that can help students create the connections needed to become “co-workers” in DuBois’ sense. Many students lack knowledge of their own and others’histories, and unconsciously default to the mainstream’s simplistic, stereotypical, or hierarchical notions. Inclusive excellence upsets presumptions of both difference and homogeneity. It defines diversity in broad terms, encompassing both individual aspects (personality, learning style) and social ones (relating to geographical location, generation, social class, race, cultural, gender, or sexual orientation). It aspires to move beyond narrow phrasings of identity politics to allow for individual complexity and yet address social justice issues like achievement gaps, while placing multicultural, working class, gendered, LGBT perspectives on equal standing with“mainstream” perspectives reflecting the experience of middle and upper class whites, usually heterosexual and male. Inclusive Excellence intersects with Liberal Education for America’s THE CEA FORUM Winter/Spring 2013 Promise (LEAP), a project that emphasizes critical thinking (inquiry, analysis, ethics, reflection, complexity, and synthesis) in ways that underscore the importance of understanding historical and cultural contexts from multiple points of view. Many educators and business leaders argue that as the world becomes more “gl

FAQs

What does DuBois mean by becoming a “co-worker in the kingdom of culture”?

DuBois frames citizenship as participation in national culture as fellow citizens, developing one’s talents without being isolated or targeted. The text links this to the desire of African Americans to engage as equals in U.S. democratic culture.

Why does the paper argue that dialogue about race remains difficult?

It cites attitudes that treat past injustice as over and that assume fairness while whites define the “program.” The text also notes how persistent segregation and discrimination contradict claims of resolution.

How does Inclusive Excellence aim to support more constructive and inclusive dialogue?

Inclusive Excellence helps students connect to their own and others’ histories, challenge simplistic stereotypes, and broaden diversity beyond hierarchy. It also aligns with Liberal Education for America’s Promise (LEAP) by emphasizing critical thinking and historical-cultural context from multiple viewpoints.

Oct 15, 2026

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