Books with author W. E. B. Du Bois

This is the classic history of the African peoples in Africa and the New World, a repudiation of the absurd belief, widely held in the post-Civil War period, that Africans had no civilization but the one foisted upon them by their slave trading captors. Writing for a popular audience in 1915, DuBois, one of America's greatest writers, lays out in easy-to-read, nonacademic prose the striking and illustrious story of the complex history and varied cultures of Africa, from the art and industry of the peoples of the continent to the dramatic impact the slave trade had both in Africa and on her descendents in the Western Hemisphere. Boldly proud and beautifully written, this essential work will delight readers of American and African history as well as students of great American literature.

W. E. B. DuBois's history of the black peoples examines how the empires of Ethiopia and the Niger formed, and how black culture developed across Africa and later the United States and Latin America. Ranging across thousands of years of black history, this book is a superb introduction for the student or reader. We hear how black peoples rose from their early origins to become a proud and cultured ethnicity. How the early tribal societies migrated around Africa, and how some of these settled and flourished into civilizations or joined societies such as Egypt, is revealed. DuBois then establishes how the slave trade resulted in many black peoples being taken from their homes after being sold into slavery. The market for black slaves was enormously profitable; yet it was not until the Arab conquests of Africa that the native peoples knew of it. Later, when the Europeans used their shipping routes to create the 'Slave Triangle', the volumes of black slaves dramatically increased. The author ruefully notes that once the British became involved, the importation of slaves grew enormously. The final chapters show how, following the abolition of slavery, black populations made a new life as emancipated, free peoples. Many intermixed in South American societies, and in the Caribbean countries with majority black populations established distinctive cultures and traditions. Placing emphasis upon the difficulties which black peoples encountered, DuBois closes his history by noting the myriad injustices that black Americans still struggle against. Racism and discrimination was rife, and failures for the Reconstruction were blamed solely upon blacks themselves. In concluding, DuBois poignantly notes: "Most men in this world are colored. A belief in humanity means a belief in colored men."

"I venture to write again on themes on which great souls have already said greater words, in the hope that I may strike here and there a half-tone, newer even if slighter, up from the heart of my problem and the problems of my people."William Edward Burghardt "W. E. B." Du Bois (1868 – 1963) was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, writer and editor. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community. After completing graduate work at the University of Berlin and Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate, he became a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University. Du Bois was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909.Contents:CredoThe Shadow of YearA Litany at AtlantaThe Souls of White FolkThe Riddle of the SphinxThe Hands of EthiopiaThe Princess of the Hither IslesOf Work and WealthThe Second Coming"The Servant in the House"Jesus Christ in TexasOf the Ruling of MenThe CallThe Damnation of WomenChildren of the MoonThe Immortal ChildAlmighty DeathOf Beauty and DeathThe Prayers of GodThe CometA Hymn to the Peoples

One of the most widely read and influential works in African American literature, "The Souls of Black Folk" is W.E.B. Du Bois's classic collection of essays in which he details the state of racism and black culture at the beginning of the 20th century. Often autobiographical, "The Souls of Black Folk" takes the reader on a history lesson of race relations and the state of the African American from the emancipation proclamation to the early part of the 20th century. A founding member of the NAACP, Du Bois, through his writings, laid the foundation for the debate that would become the civil rights movement.

The Souls of Black Folk , by W. E. B. Du Bois, sociologist, historian, civil rights activist and author, has a central place in American history and literature.“Few books make history and fewer still become foundational texts for the movements and struggles of an entire people. The Souls of Black Folk occupies this rare position.” – Manning Marable.“The boycott of the buses in Montgomery had many roots . . . but none more important than this little book of essays published more than half a century earlier." -- Saunders Redding

The distinguished American civil rights leader, W. E. B. Du Bois first published these fiery essays, sketches, and poems individually nearly 80 years ago in the Atlantic, the Journal of Race Development, and other periodicals. Reflecting the author's ideas as a politician, historian, and artist, this volume has long moved and inspired readers with its militant cry for social, political, and economic reforms for black Americans. Essential reading for students of African-American history

"Between the sterner flights of logic, I have sought to set some little alightings of what may be poetry. They are tributes to Beauty, unworthy to stand alone; yet perversely, in my mind, now at the end, I know not whether I mean the Thought for the Fancy—or the Fancy for the Thought, or why the book trails off to playing, rather than standing strong on unanswering fact. But this is alway—is it not?—the Riddle of Life." Contents:CredoThe Shadow of YearA Litany at AtlantaThe Souls of White FolkThe Riddle of the SphinxThe Hands of EthiopiaThe Princess of the Hither IslesOf Work and WealthThe Second Coming"The Servant in the House"Jesus Christ in TexasOf the Ruling of MenThe CallThe Damnation of WomenChildren of the MoonThe Immortal ChildAlmighty DeathOf Beauty and DeathThe Prayers of GodThe CometA Hymn to the Peoples

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was a black civil rights activist, leader, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, educator, historian, writer, editor, poet, and scholar. He became a naturalized citizen of Ghana in 1963 at the age of 95. "The time has not yet come for a complete history of the Negro peoples. Archaeological research in Africa has just begun, and many sources of information in Arabian, Portuguese, and other tongues are not fully at our command; and, too, it must frankly be confessed, racial prejudice against darker peoples is still too strong in so-called civilized centers for judicial appraisement of the peoples of Africa. Much intensive monographic work in history and science is needed to clear mooted points and quiet the controversialist who mistakes present personal desire for scientific proof. Nevertheless, I have not been able to withstand the temptation to essay such short general statement of the main known facts and their fair interpretation as shall enable the general reader to know as men a sixth or more of the human race. Manifestly so short a story must be mainly conclusions and generalizations with but meager indication of authorities and underlying arguments." - W. E. B. Du Bois

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was a black civil rights activist, leader, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, educator, historian, writer, editor, poet, and scholar. He became a naturalized citizen of Ghana in 1963 at the age of 95. "The time has not yet come for a complete history of the Negro peoples. Archaeological research in Africa has just begun, and many sources of information in Arabian, Portuguese, and other tongues are not fully at our command; and, too, it must frankly be confessed, racial prejudice against darker peoples is still too strong in so-called civilized centers for judicial appraisement of the peoples of Africa. Much intensive monographic work in history and science is needed to clear mooted points and quiet the controversialist who mistakes present personal desire for scientific proof. Nevertheless, I have not been able to withstand the temptation to essay such short general statement of the main known facts and their fair interpretation as shall enable the general reader to know as men a sixth or more of the human race. Manifestly so short a story must be mainly conclusions and generalizations with but meager indication of authorities and underlying arguments." - W. E. B. Du Bois

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was a black civil rights activist, leader, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, educator, historian, writer, editor, poet, and scholar. He became a naturalized citizen of Ghana in 1963 at the age of 95. "The time has not yet come for a complete history of the Negro peoples. Archaeological research in Africa has just begun, and many sources of information in Arabian, Portuguese, and other tongues are not fully at our command; and, too, it must frankly be confessed, racial prejudice against darker peoples is still too strong in so-called civilized centers for judicial appraisement of the peoples of Africa. Much intensive monographic work in history and science is needed to clear mooted points and quiet the controversialist who mistakes present personal desire for scientific proof. Nevertheless, I have not been able to withstand the temptation to essay such short general statement of the main known facts and their fair interpretation as shall enable the general reader to know as men a sixth or more of the human race. Manifestly so short a story must be mainly conclusions and generalizations with but meager indication of authorities and underlying arguments." - W. E. B. Du Bois