THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK: A CENTENNIAL LECTURE SERIES AND EXHIBIT AT THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY ON THE LEGACY OF W. E. B. DU BOIS (funding by the Illinois Humanities Center) “Herein lie buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here at the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader; for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.” W. E. Burghardt Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches (Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1903), vii.

In honor of Black History Month and the centennial publication of the Souls of Black Folk, the Newberry hosted three lectures by prominent African American scholars and displayed an assortment of materials related to the life and work of W.E.B. Du Bois. 

The Lectures:

“The Strange Meaning of Being Black: Du Bois as Political Philosopher” Robert Gooding-Williams, Northwestern University, 18 February 2003

"Navigating the Dilemma of Dual Consciousness through the Dual Legacies of W.E.B. Du Bois and Ella Josephine Baker" Barbara Ransby, University of Illinois at Chicago, 22 March 2003

“'Of the Meaning of Progress': The Souls of Black Folk and 'American' Ideals” Kenneth W. Warren, The University of Chicago, 24 April 2003

The Exhibit:

Choosing amongst Du Bois’s many manuscripts was easier said then done but, with the help of Exhibit Assistant Jodi Morrison, Scholl Center Director Toby Higbie and Assistant Director Jen Koslow felt that their selections gave a sense of Du Bois’s life as a scholar and political activist. 
For those of you who missed the Du Bois exhibit, we provide an item list with call numbers and label copy.

W. E. B. Du Bois, The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America, 1638-1870.
New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896.  H 577 .243
Du Bois’ Harvard dissertation provided damning evidence of American participation in the international slave trade. In this appendix, Du Bois provided numerous examples of “typical American slavers” working before and after the banning of the trade in 1808.

W. E. B. Du Bois, The Philadelphia Negro.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1899.  H 5837 .243
This map of Philadelphia’s seventh ward reveals Du Bois as a sociologist. Influenced by the publication of Hull House Maps and Papers (1895), Du Bois conducted house-to-house investigations and almost 900 hours of interviews among the roughly 10,000 African American residents of the neighborhood.  Drawing upon this evidence, he argued that African Americans’ historical experience with racism directly resulted in their contemporary poverty. The study met with critical acclaim.

W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk.
Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1903.  H 5837 .244
In Souls, Du Bois used a literary approach to the dilemma of race in America.  The beginning of each chapter paired European poetry with an African American spiritual, creating a symbolic equality between the races and suggesting the “double consciousness” of African Americans. Here, Arthur Symon’s “The Crying of Water” is coupled with “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen.”  Already in its third printing by the end of 1903, Souls sold almost 200 copies per week at the height of its popularity.

Original Contract between A.C. McClurg & Company and W.E.B. Du Bois of The Souls of Black Folk 
A.C. McClurg Company Correspondence
According to Du Bois, the A.C. McClurg Co. approached him in 1902 about publishing a collection of essays.  The contract gave McClurg exclusive rights over publication but Du Bois retained ownership of the copyright. In 1935, McClurg estimated that it had printed a total of 15,000 copies and paid Du Bois $2,450 in royalties.

W. E. B. Du Bois, Review of The Souls of Black Folk. 
The Independent vol. 57, Nov. 17, 1904  A 5 .415
Answering critics, Du Bois reviewed his own book and argued that its power lay in the subjective prose he had chosen to use for each chapter.

The Nation
(vol. 76-no. 1965)  A 5 .63
In advertising Souls, McClurg highlighted the different approaches and philosophies of W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington.

W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, The Negro in the South: His Economic Progress in Relation to His Moral and Religious Development.
Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Company, 1907.  H 5873 .96
Du Bois’s and Washington’s distinct perspectives and prose belied any agreement between the two on how to approach the subject of racial inequality.  Although their names appear as co-authors, Jacobs & Company simply published two lectures each gave as part of a series on “Social, Industrial, and Economic problems of the time,” without even an introduction or conclusion.

W. E. B. Du Bois, Black Reconstruction.
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, NY, 1935.  F 8350 .245
In Black Reconstruction Du Bois refuted contemporary  historical arguments that considered Reconstruction a failure and depicted southern African American politicians as inept.  Instead he showed that freed people had successfully secured money for public schools, passed social legislation, and advanced democracy.  In this chapter, “The General Strike,” Du Bois argued that by withholding their labor, African Americans disrupted and disabled the southern economic system and consequently the South’s ability to win the war.

Scholl Center