In this founding work in the literature of black protest, Du Bois eloquently affirms that it is beneath the dignity of a human being to beg for those rights that belong inherently to all mankind. He also charges that the strategy of accommodation to white supremacy would only serve to perpetuate black oppression.
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William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868--1963) is the greatest of African-American intellectuals--a sociologist, historian, novelist, and activist whose astounding career spanned the nation's history from Reconstruction to the civil rights movement. Born in Massachusetts and educated at Fisk, Harvard, and the University of Berlin, Du Bois penned his epochal masterpiece, The Souls of Black Folk, in 1903. It remains his most studied and popular work; its insights into Negro life at the turn of the 20th century still ring true.
With a dash of the Victorian and Enlightenment influences that peppered his impassioned yet formal prose, the book's largely autobiographical chapters take the reader through the momentous and moody maze of Afro-American life after the Emancipation Proclamation--from poverty, the neoslavery of the sharecropper, illiteracy, miseducation and lynching, to the heights of humanity reached by the spiritual "sorrow songs" that birthed gospel and the blues. The most memorable passages are contained in "On Booker T Washington and Others", where Du Bois criticises his famous contemporary's rejection of higher education and accommodationist stance toward white racism: "Mr. Washington's programme practically accepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro races", he writes, further complaining that Washington's thinking "withdraws many of the high demands of Negroes as men and American citizens". The capstone of The Souls of Black Folk, though, is Du Bois' haunting, eloquent description of the concept of the black psyche's "double consciousness", which he described as "a peculiar sensation....One ever feels this twoness--an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder". Thanks to WEB Du Bois' commitment and foresight--and the intellectual excellence expressed in this timeless literary gem--black Americans can today look in the mirror and rejoice in their beautiful black, brown and beige reflections. --Eugene Holley Jr --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
" One hundred years after publication, there is in the entire body of social criticism still no more than a handful of meditations on the promise and failings of democracy in America to rival William Edward Burghardt Du Bois' s extraordinary collection of fourteen essays." --from the Introduction by David Levering Lewis
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By Dom Wint
Format:Paperback
I studied US History at university. Like mmost US history courses, we studied the slave trade and its repurcussions on society and we were encouraged to read DuBois although I never got around to it. I'm glad I picked up this book, which is essentially a group of stories and observations on life 'behind the veil'. I was reading and reading and taking it all in, and then I came to a paragraph in the last chapter asking the question 'would America be as it is today if it wasn't for the negro slave?'. I read this paragraph ten times at least. I have no answer for the questions it poses, but it really sums the book up. This is essential reading. I would heartily recommend it to anybody.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Ive read it and re-read it and there still new facets to this book which I discover. Its a great literary book which deserves to be studied in school and discussed by children of all races.The author covers many of the topics and issues of his time and makes his views plain. the third chapter in which he gives his opinion of Booker Washington needs to be read through with a calm, clear mind. Its one of the most important essays ever written by an African american. This £1.90 edition is the best value edition going so you really have no excuses.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A must read for someone who is interested in Black and White relations.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
believe its good
I have not looked into this book as yet, when i read the review it was good and thats what got me interested in the first place.
Published 10 days ago by Keith Augustine
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inspirational
Create a great foundation and quoted by many people involved in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.. very inspirational
Published 6 months ago by damo
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