The Lives of Douglass,Du Bois,and Washington: Self-Actualization Among African American Males

Theoretical Impressions

Maslow’s theories of self-actualization initially emerged from his attempt to understand two of his most revered teachers (Maslow, 1993). Ruth Benedict and Max Wertheimer were Maslow’s mentors and teachers when he came to New York City after earning his PhD. Maslow was so in awe of the two teachers that he began his own investigation into what made them so remarkable. After conducting his prescientific research, Maslow (1993) operationally defined the multilayered characteristics of Benedict and Wertheimer as the epitome of self-actualized people. Maslow knew the limitations of his study and particularly the Western bias of the very nature of the phenomenon of self-actualization, yet he proclaimed the position that all human beings, despite the country, culture, or context, are curious about the limits of human potential. Maslow was looking for a phenomenon “beyond authenticity” (Maslow, 1993, p. 42) and sought to better understand people who seemed involved in a cause outside of themselves—a true vocation.

Maslow suggested that self-actualizing people are devoted to a calling or working toward something to which fate has called them (Maslow, 1993). By approaching one’s vocation with reverence and respect for its foundational attributes, one can usher in the sense of the sacred nature of vocation. Maslow is most notably known for his contributions to the field of humanistic psychology and more distinctively, his theory of self-actualization, the apex of his theoretical hierarchy of needs. From the beginning of recorded time, history reveals that human beings have been intrinsically and extrinsically motivated in one manner or another to survive and thrive in their communities and as well as in domestic and foreign environments (Tylor, 1924). Striving toward the maximization of one’s potentialities was part of our progress as a species (Levine, 1940), and Maslow’s notion of self-actualization seemed to best capture the spirit of this phenomenon.

Autobiography in African American Culture

Autobiography has given the literary world immeasurable insight into the African American experience. Olney (1980) described autobiography as a narrative of a particular culture written in individual personalities from the internal world of the author, which offers special access to the American experience, the Black experience, the female experience, and the African experience in a manner that no other form of writing can offer. Olney stated,

To understand the American mind in all its complexity—so goes the argument—read a variety of American autobiographies; moreover, since many of the autobiographies were written by the same people who produced the fiction, drama, and poetry of the nation, the student who sees autobiography as the central document possess a key to all the other literature as well. (p. 14)

It is widely understood that the autobiography opened the door of literature to the African American and essentially preserved African American history in a nonstandardized manner (Blassingame, 1973). Whether it was Frederick Douglass (1845), Maya Angelou (1997), Olaudah Equiano (1996), or Malcolm X (Malcolm X, Haley, & Davis, 1992), the critical and primary literature specific to the Black experience has been autobiography (Olney, 1980). As a result of the influence autobiographies have had on explicating the African American experience (Butterfield, 2012), literature courses and literary analysis have firmly established Douglass, Du Bois, Washington, and a host of other autobiographical Black authors as essential contributors to the evolution of modern English literature and our understanding of the experiences of the early African American people (Olney, 1980).

Many African American scholars took notice of the significance of autobiography for the written record of the African American plight throughout American history. Toni Morrison (1987) was one such scholar. In The Site of Memory, Morrison contributed an essay titled “Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir.” This important writing denoted how students of Black history inevitably relied on the book-length memoirs, recollections, and autobiographies as the written foundations of Black literature. The oral tradition was additionally important in the generation elucidation of African American culture and mores, but it was not until the printed autobiography that the African American experience and voice grew toward ultimate national and even global recognition and prominence.

Slave narratives were particularly important cultural artifacts of the African American experience. Although the printed works varied in approach and life situation, Morrison (1987) suggested that they were essentially written to voice two critical things. Morrison first proposed that the written slave narrative served as a means to represent the Black race and also offered a distinguishing voice of life for the Black person during that time. Second, Morrison proposed that the fundamental purpose of the written narrative was to influence the readers that the Black person was worthy of the abolishment of slavery and the Judeo-Christian God’s grace. Morrison believed these two critical functions assisted in the critical nature of printed slave narratives and Black literature as a whole.

Morrison brought particular attention to the dilemma of the Black author of that era. Despite the often overwhelming circumstances before the Black author in learning to read, disseminate, or publish work about the plight of the Black person in American, the author first had to walk a fine line of not too harshly offending or confronting the mostly White audience which was the majority book buyer at that time. The Black author had to develop a capacity for extra sensitivity and grace when writing for people who created, maintained, or supported the harsh living conditions for the Black person in America. In order to gain literary acceptance in American circles, the Black author faced the underlying paradox of speaking the truth in an objective and notably unbiased tone. Morrison (1987) recognized how the Black author had to seek the nobility within the heart of the readers who were White in order to gently sway them to help abolish the immorality and inhumanity of slavery.

Challenging as it was for a Black author to get published in the 1800s, a desire for autobiographical slave narrative and stories exponentially grew, which aided in the credibility and promulgation of the African American voice across the nation. Morrison (1987) reported,

There was a time when the hunger for “slave stories” was too difficult to quiet, as sales figures show. Douglass’s Narrative sold five thousand copies in four months; by 1847 it had sold eleven thousand copies. Equiano’s book had thirty-six editions between 1789 and 1850. Moses Roper’s book had ten editions from 1837 to 1856; William Wells Brown’s was reprinted four times in its first year. Solomon Northrop’s book sold twenty-seven thousand copies before two years had passed. A book by Josiah Henson (argued by some to be the model for the “Tom” of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin) had a pre-publication sale of five thousand. (p. 189)

Morrison (1987) notably reported the risks many Black authors took in order to become literate or educated to make their experiences and truths publicly known. In numerous Southern states at the time published slave autobiographies, narratives, and memoirs were strictly prohibited and carried the consequence of severe punishment or even death. Many of the Black writers recognized the power of the written word, especially as it related to the Constitution, and were willing to use their printed voice to expose the atrocities of slavery and gain literary influence. Morrison noted that works by Black authors at the time always carried a subtitle such as “written by himself,” or “herself” and often included prefaces and introductions by White sympathizers in order to lend credibility to the printed works. Renowned antislavery editors John Greenleaf Whittier and Lydia Maria Child (Child, Whittier, & Phillips, 1883) wrote prefaces to many slave narratives to confirm to the reader the dearth of editing necessary in the slave autobiographies and memoirs. For a slave to be educated at that time was extremely rare and hard for most readers to fathom, so steps were necessarily taken to authenticate and validate their written works.

Peak-Experiences

Peak-experiences are the metaphoric and thematic life pillars that help support the foundation of Maslow’s theory of self-actualization. Maslow (1993) suggested the regularity of peak-experiences throughout one’s adult life contributed to a significant aspect of an individual’s physical well-being and mental health. During these peak-experiences Maslow (1993) indicated that by observing and feeling a higher level of consciousness, both men and woman experiencing peak-experiences can have a more precise view of reality, although disparate forms of reality can be experienced by mostly all people. Maslow (1993) offered illustrations of distinct “triggers” of peaks or euphoric moments in one’s ordinary life, such as a mother caring for one’s baby or exploring the loving delight of her newborn infant, or fusing with nature or other athletic experiences (Hoffman, Kaneshiro, & Compton, 2012).

Very few studies on peak-experiences of childhood have been conducted, or published, aside from the empirical studies by Hoffman and his colleagues. Comparison and contrast of Western and Eastern cultures has intrigued historians, scientists, theologians, and philosophers for centuries. The problem is that little empirical research has been done on what peak-experiences look like across nationalities (Hoffman & Muramoto, 2007). Studies of peak-experiences among Japanese (Hoffman & Muramoto, 2007), Nordic (Hoffman, Iversen, & Ortiz, 2010), Chinese (Hoffman, Ho, Chen, & Ortiz, 2014), Brazilian (Hoffman, Resende, & Ho, 2012), and Mexican (Hoffman & Ortiz, 2009 ) youth have been conducted and continues to inform current research. Hoffman and Muramoto (2007) noted that Maslow’s focus on the concept of childhood peak-experiences became more significant later in his career along with the desire to produce empirically validated research about the topic. The empirical findings from Hoffman and his colleagues were utilized throughout my study as they related and connected to the lives of Douglass, Du Bois, and Washington. Hoffman’s (1998) exploratory study focused primarily on nine distinct categories of childhood peak-experiences. The nine Hoffman childhood peak-experiences categories are as follows:

The results of Hoffman’s early study may have likely pleased Maslow if he were still alive today. Specifically, the results revealed that many of the indescribable experiences reported occurred in natural environments or everyday milieu, such as the backyard of a home. This is an idea that is very much intertwined with Maslow’s (1964) belief in discovering the extraordinary within the ordinary moments, events, and occurrences of life. Akin to my thesis study, Hoffman’s research endeavored to understand and interpret the narratives of the participants’ lives, through their own words. In the investigative process, Hoffman (1998) found multiple examples of how people were moved by a formalized religious or spiritual occurrence or an extemporaneous or a whole-hearted supplication or prayer; moreover, the significance of these moments helped transition the people into a timeless and transcendent state of being. This would certainly capture the essence of what Maslow proposed when initially describing peak-experiences, and more importantly, the fact that peak-experiences are not just accessible or attainable for the young adult or adult in midlife but to a child or adolescent as well. As aforementioned, other empirical studies by Hoffman and his colleagues on peak-experiences in childhood were integrated throughout my research to help highlight the impact such experiences have had on Douglass’s, Du Bois’, and Washington’s process of self-actualization.

Nadir-Experiences

Maslow (1964) developed a term called nadir-experiences to describe instances of tragedy, emotional turmoil, pain, trauma, near death experiences, or suffering that can lead to personal or spiritual growth. Nadir-experiences can ultimately lead to self-actualization. Borrowing on Maslow’s (1964) original concept of nadir-experiences, Taylor (2013) wrote about how moments of tragedy can actually produce enduring change to an individual’s worldview, attitude, and character. There is no doubt in my mind that nadir-experiences, in addition to peak-experiences contributed greatly to the process of self-actualization among Douglass, Du Bois, and Washington. Nadir-experiences can ultimately lead to self-actualization. Tragedy can actually produce enduring change to an individual’s worldview, attitude, and character (Taylor, 2013). There were many nadir-experiences discovered in the autobiographies of Douglass, Du Bois, and Washington that contributed greatly to their process of self-actualization.

Early African American Music, Art, and Literary Expression

Many African Americans found their form of expression through music or art. The creation of the blues led the way for the latter advent and arrival of ragtime and then jazz music and other American music genres that echoed the sentiments of early African Americans (Trotter, 2000). In 1923, early jazz orchestras led by the likes of Joseph “King” Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Erskine Tate, and Clarence Love emerged in Chicago and Kansas (Trotter, 2000). In New York, Black musicians and band leaders such as Fletcher Henderson, William “Chick” Webb, Jimmie Lunceford, Andy Kirk, and Duke Ellington proliferated their big band sound, while in Los Angeles and Denver, jazz pianist and musicians such as Les Hite, George Morrison, Willie-the-Lion Smith, Lucky Roberts, James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, and Earl “Fatha” Hines significantly contributed to the cultural revolution within the African American community (Trotter, 2000). Music for the early African American became a mode of freedom and a basis on which to express the inexpressible. Black musicians, and the like, found a form of freedom and expression through music that would often galvanize the participant and recipient of the music into a dimension of African American experience outside the grasp of racism, oppression, or dominant culture mores. Music, akin to the vulnerability often read in autobiographies, gave the hearer a chance to feel the soul of the person, which for many early African American men and women was as important as any kind of civil rights movement. Music became a tolerated bridge for direct human to human connection, despite the racism, prejudices, and oppressive systems that were often preventing many Blacks at the time from fully entering American society and opportunities.

On equal footing with the Black musician was the evolving Black writer and artist. Philadelphian Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller became the first Black woman artist to receive a federal commission and become recognized as the America’s first studio sculptor (Trotter, 2000). Liberation was also found during the highly influential time of the Harlem Renaissance. The culmination of so many artistic and creative African American people distilled in Harlem, New York was the result of the Great Migration of Blacks moving or immigrating North from the South, West Indies, and Africa (Trotter, 2000). During the Harlem Renaissance, Black artists and artisans created, developed, or produced nearly 10 volumes of poetry, 26 published novels, 5 Broadway plays, numerous music compositions, paintings, and sculptures, short stories, and essays (Trotter, 2000).

In his comprehensive historical review, Trotter (2000) specified how the Harlem Renaissance introduced and highlighted the multilayered potentials of countless Black people. Influential novelists, writers, painters, and poets, such as Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, Claude McKay, Counteé Cullen, Jessie Fauset, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Sargent Johnson, Richmond Barthé, Aaron Douglas, and Nancy Prophet are only a few names of the many that emerged as a result from the Harlem Renaissance (Trotter, 2000). Last but not least, on the stage and silver screen Black actors and actresses such as Patrick Gilpin, Paul Robeson, and Rose McClendon began to make great names for themselves in major theatrical and film productions (Trotter, 2000). Even in the world of athletics, Jack Johnson became the first Black heavyweight champion of the World when he defeated Tommy Burns in 1908 (Trotter, 2000). During the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century, the revolution from African Americans and the evolution of the African American experience began to build a foundation for further peak-experiences and moments of self-actualization to occur for future generations.

Adaptive Community Resilience

Highlighting the importance of the preeminent value placed on religion, faith, work, education, and the flexibility of domestic roles has assisted in the survival of African American groups, individuals, and families for generations and has been widely perceived as an adaptive strength (Hill, 1999). Hines and Boyd-Franklin (1996) outlined the significance of culture and traditions long held in a variety of African communities that have been intergenerational in transmutation to African American men and women in current times. Shared worldviews and systems of thought were ties that consistently linked African communities together and contributed to the tribal kinship bonds that were often stronger than traditional bloodlines (Hines & Boyd-Franklin, 2005). This bond was, in its very essence, what contributed to the resilience needed to survive the Middle Passage, and it remains a bond that helps many African Americans survive in the United States today.

Slavery has had a negative effect on the general appreciation of African American history and on African Americans’ perception of themselves in America (McGoldrick, Giordano, & Garcia-Preto, 2005). Feeling empty and invisible was a direct result of having to abandon native customs, tribal and given birth names, religions, foods, language, children, families, friends, and innumerable other connections with their indigenous homelands (Hines & Boyd-Franklin, 1996). Hines and Boyd-Franklin suggested that having to endure the dehumanizing process of becoming a piece of property (i.e., legally deemed by U.S. law 3/5ths of a human) contributed to high mortality rates and the weakening of African bonds and kinship, as well as widespread low sense of self-concept and self-esteem.

The sense of feeling a part of a community has been a critical kinship network that has helped African Americans deal with the stresses of learning to survive and thrive in an arguably direct and indirectly oppressive society. McAdoo (2002) reported that proximity has played a critical role in helping African Americans rely on one another in times of need (Billingsley, 1988; Billingsley, 1992; Boyd-Franklin, 2003). Afrocentric scholars (Ani, 1994; Boyd-Franklin, 2003; Kambon, 1998) refer to slavery as “the great disaster” and estimated that 25 to 100 million African people were lost, killed, abandoned, or simply left to die during the global slave trade. This continues to harbor a destructive residue within the psyche of African Americans. Many African American people, particular men in high crime neighborhoods and of low socioeconomic status have commonly low self-esteem or feel hopeless about the future (Tucker & Mitchell-Kernan, 1995).

Franklin (1993) introduced the term invisibility syndrome to highlight the marginalization of African American men. Testa and Krogh (1995) and Tucker and Mitchell-Kernan (1995) emphasized how high unemployment rates among African American men has had a disparaging impact on the willingness to marry or establish a reliable basis for the African American male to provide for a family. This phenomenon has unfortunately contributed to the notion of the absent or uninvolved African American father. In addition, Franklin (1993) continued to suggest that the undercurrent within U.S. society among the White population is to fear or ignore the Black male in particular, or to simply treat him as “invisible” which only adds to the internalized negative projections and discriminatory attitudes many African American men have of themselves and fellow African American males (Boyd-Franklin, 2003; Hines, 1999; Pinderhughes, 1982). In many ways, this sets up an unfortunate ethnicity/race-based competition and comparison that ultimately leaves the African American community feeling more fragmented, isolated, and helpless.

Fifteen Key Attributes

Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and W. E. B. Du Bois had several significant traits and overarching themes in common. For instance, each man appeared internally driven toward issues of social justice, race/ethnic equality, socioeconomic fairness, and advancement for the Black/African American. Each man also demonstrated unwavering hope, optimism, and resoluteness throughout his life-span. The autobiographical analysis of Douglass, Du Bois, and Washington revealed parallel themes and character traits for each leader. These themes and traits are as follows:

Right here, perhaps, I ought to add that I make it a rule never to go before an audience, on any occasion, without asking the blessing of God upon what I want to say. (p. 104)

The three men demonstrated unwavering faith in the spirit of humane justice or in a Higher Power which gave them hope for a better day, a better condition for the African American, and hope for a more just America.

If the institution had been officered by white persons, and had failed, it would have injured the cause of Negro education; but I knew that the failure of our institution, officered by Negroes, would not only mean the loss of a school, but would cause people, in a large degree, to lose faith in the ability of the entire race. (p. 91)

Our graduates go to work in every section of the South, and whatever knowledge might be obtained in the library would serve to assist in the elevation of the whole race. (p. 93)

In my early life I used to cherish a feeling of ill will toward anyone who spoke in bitter terms against the Negro, or who advocated measures that tended to oppress the black man or take from him opportunities for growth in the most complete manner. Now, whenever I hear anyone advocating measures that are meant to curtail the development of another, I pity the individual who would do this. I know that the one who makes this mistake does so because of his own lack of opportunity for the kindest kind of growth. I pity him because I know he is trying to stop the progress of the world, and because I know that in time the development and the ceaseless advance of humanity will make him ashamed of his weak and narrow position. (p. 99)

In this address at Madison I took the ground that the policy to be pursued with reference to the races was, by every honourable means, to bring them together and to encourage the cultivation of friendly relations, instead of doing that which would embitter. I further contended that, in relation to his vote, the Negro should more and more consider the interests of the community in which he lived, rather than seek alone to please someone who lived a thousand miles away from him and from his interests. (p. 98)

The receiving of this invitation brought to me a sense of responsibility that it would be hard for anyone not placed in my position to appreciate. What were my feelings when this invitation came to me? I remembered that I had been a slave; that my early years had been spent in the lowest depths of poverty and ignorance, and that I had had little opportunity to prepare me for such a responsibility as this. It was only a few years before that time that any white man in the audience might have claimed me as his slave; and it was easily possible that some of my former owners might be present to hear me speak. (p. 102)

To all these communications I replied that my life-work was at Tuskegee; and that whenever I spoke it must be in the interests of the Tuskegee school and my race, and that I would enter into no arrangements that seemed to place a mere commercial value upon my services. (p. 110)

In order to be successful in any kind of undertaking, I think the main thing is for one to grow to the point where he completely forgets himself; that is, to lose himself in a great cause. In proportion as one loses himself in this way, in the same degree does he get the highest happiness out of his work. (p. 88)

Honest men may and must criticize America. Describe how she has ruined her democracy, sold out her jury system, and led her seats of justice astray. (p. 417)

These 15 attributes can correlate with Maslow’s theory of self-actualization by means of childhood and midlife peak-experiences among African American children and young adults, but culturally the traits suggest characteristics of development that may be more germane to African American lives or the African American experience of living in America. These traits can certainly be observed in many of today’s most influential Black or African American men, such as United States President Barack Obama, former South African President Nelson Mandela, or the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The aforementioned examples can serve as a catalyst for further research about the process of self-actualization among Black leaders and how their process and traits apparently differ culturally from others majority ethnicities within American society.

A key limitation to this qualitative investigation of peak-experiences through autobiographies is the inability of actual interviews with the participants/authors, to ask further questions, gain clarity, or expand on certain details, ideas, or concepts of their lived experiences. Given the narrowness of studying three African American men, the results might be inconclusive. Another limitation of this research is that it only focused on the lived experiences of three notable Black men. If the study had the capacity to include the perspective of historic Black and African American women as well, it may have produced a wider understanding of the process of self-actualization during difficult or challenging times. Including other minority groups in the early stages of United States formation, such as studying peak-experiences among indigenous American tribes, Latin and Hispanic cultures, and Asian peoples in early America would add a broader and more generalizable perspective to this study.

Identifying these 15 attributes in historic African American male leadership may help other mental health professionals, leaders, and a multitude of other professions alike to recognize these traits in some of their male clients/personnel/citizens struggling to get past certain socioeconomic, psychological, or developmental milestones. Depth psychology, along with other psychodynamically oriented psychologies, is uniquely oriented to help deepen one’s understanding of the intrapsychic processes of self-actualization and how best to recognize and develop some of these qualities in some of our most underserved and marginalized minority populations in America. Future research could concentrate on why these 15 traits are not seen more readily in today’s African American population where there is seemingly less systematic racism, frameworks of oppression, or lack of advancement opportunities in education, the workplace, politics, and the like.

Other Obstacles for African Americans

Many current challenges within and outside of the African American community impede the process of self-actualization. Many African Americans throughout all major regions of the United States continue to struggle with the negative impact of bigotry, prejudice, racism, classism, and even sexism (Alfred & Chlup, 2009; Clark, 1993; Collins, 1998; hooks, 2005; Samuels & Ross-Sheriff, 2008; Windsor, Benoit, & Dunlap, 2010). Poor, low-income, and even middle-class African Americans living in high-poverty communities endure countless interrelated issues such as limited access to quality resources, educational failure, substandard housing, insufficient dental and medical care, inadequate nutrition, substance abuse, crime, violence, hunger, familial stress, and overall hopelessness (Dunlap, Golub, & Johnson, 2006; Furstenberg, Cook, Cook, Elder, & Sameroff, 1999; Johnson, Williams, Dei, & Sanabria, 1990; Kasarda, 1992; Kozol, 1996; Massey & Denton, 1993; Wilson, 1987). The accumulation of these issues creates tremendous obstacles for many African Americans to financially succeed and thrive in mainstream America (Glazer, 1975; Jencks & Mayer, 1990; Massey, 1994; Wilson, 1987, 1996).

Reich, Pinkard, and Davidson (2008) reported that within the community psychology milieu, it is widely understood that African Americans and women are historically oppressed groups. Nonetheless, psychological research has advanced social change while still contributing, whether directly or indirectly, to the oppression of others. In addition, LaMothe (2012) brought attention to these inequities by examining how vital education, community development, and human development are to the process of self-actualization. Reasonable access to quality education, neighborhood growth, and positive human improvement were not practical realities to the majority African Americans during the era of Douglass, Du Bois, and Washington. Denial of access to the aforementioned privileges were among key principles, not critically considered in Maslow’s original theory of self-actualization, and these fundamental concerns were utilized as evidence to understand how cultural and ethnic impediments hindered or provoked the process of self-actualization.