ABSTRACT
William Edward Burghardt DuBois contribution to the study of the Negro Church was his historical argument about the viability and influence of African culture. Du Bois asserted the partial autonomy and creativity of black culture. Du Bois's contributions to early American sociology and the study of local black communities are now well known and acknowledged. Between 1897 and 1910, when Du Bois was professor of economics and history at Atlanta University, he put out scores of studies on almost every aspect of what he called "Negro problems." Time and again Du Bois compared the Negro church with white churches and noted that the former was more than "simply an organism for the propagation of religion." Du Bois's methodological contributions to the study of African American religion emerge with foremost attention to the historical context of his thought and his varied public utterances that reflected on his ongoing research among blacks in various parts of the country.
