W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography

Biography 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

W. E. B. Du Bois, 1904
		In 1903, one year before this photograph was taken in Boston by the studio of J. E. Purdy, W. E. B. Du Bois published a series of essays entitled The Souls of Black Folks. Considered by many to be the most influential book written by an African American in the twentieth century, Souls begins with the prescient observation that "the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line." Throughout the book, Du Bois returns to two central ideas?"double consciousness" and "the veil"?to illuminate how African Americans negotiate their identities as blacks and as individuals in American society. The book also attacks the accommodationist attitudes of Booker T. Washington, notes the contributions of African Americans to society, and examines the uniqueness of African American culture, intellectualism, and art.
All information on this page is from W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and American Research, Harvard University. To visit the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute web site please click here.