The Souls of Black Folk
Why it lasts
- One of the founding works of African American thought and a classic of American writing.
- Argues that "the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line," meaning the division between races would shape the century ahead.
- Describes "double consciousness," the feeling of always seeing yourself through the eyes of a society that looks down on you, of being both Black and American and never fully at peace as either.
- Openly challenged Booker T. Washington's call for Black Americans to accept segregation for now, and helped spark the push for full civil rights that led to the founding of the NAACP in 1909.
- Shaped generations of later Black writers and leaders, from the Harlem Renaissance to the civil rights movement.
Behind the book
Music without words
Each chapter opens with bars of a Black spiritual as sheet music, beside verse mostly by white poets.
Built from magazine essays
Most chapters began as separate essays, several in The Atlantic Monthly, which Du Bois revised and joined.
Drawn from teaching days
One chapter recalls the summers Du Bois spent as a college student teaching in a poor Tennessee country school.
Praised by Henry James
The famous novelist later called it the only Southern book of any real quality published in many years.