The Souls of Black Folk (Dover Thrift Editions) (Dover Thrift Editions: Black History) Paperback – July 14, 2016

This book is a must read! The Souls of Black Folk was so good that I referenced it in my book: The Real Wakandas of Africa by Maurice Miles Martinez. W. E. B. Du Bois earned his PhD from Harvard at a time when African-Americans were not considered for such degrees. He was a Black intellectual who was heavily involved in the civil rights movement of the early 1900s. The Souls of Black Folk takes the reader through a series of essays. These essays brilliantly discuss many of the racial issues of the time. Some of them cover his experiences at Fisk University in the south. Du Bois gets into detail about many different topics which transform his understanding about race. He was an advocate of the talented tenth and engaged Booker T. Washington in dialogue. For those not aware of the history of Black America at that time, Booker T. Washington was perhaps the most prominent Black leader outside of Du Bois. Washington had been enslaved, established Tuskegee university and dined with at least one president of the United States. Thus, the section of this book that engages Booker T. Washington offers a considerable amount of insight into what was prominent a national discussion of that era. Put another way, the DuBois – Washington debate was similar in importance to the debate between Dr. King in Malcolm X in the 1960s.Du Bois was brilliant in his own right and raised questions about racism in Georgia and other places. He’s candid when he was ignorant of certain facts which only adds to his genius. For every genius intellect can admit when he/she doesn’t know something. More specifically, he discussed Dougherty County Georgia and provided an array of facts about the economics of growing cotton there. He detailed how cotton was used to keep people in debt under the system of racism. Like The Souls of Black folk, I also discuss a variety of issues around race which transpired during the pre and post reconstruction era in my book The Real Wakandas of Africa. I explain how these issues are still prevalent in society today. However, unlike other works, I also discuss the rich history of Africans prior to slavery. Africans built the tallest building in the world which stood for more than 4000 years, towering over all other world structures. Africans conducted surgery on the eye to remove cataracts hundreds of years ago and performed successful cesarean sections with antiseptics before they were known in the rest of the world. Africans built monumental structures such as a wall for which I also wrote a book called: The Great Wall of Africa: The Empire of Benin’s 10,000 Mile Long Wall by Maurice Miles Martinez. It is these stories that are often missing from the history of Black people in the Americas and African diaspora.Indeed, The Souls of Black Folk is a worthy read. Any person wanting to better understand the development of race in the late 1800s and early 1900s should read this book. Pick up a copy today!

Not much with the slave narratives on the southern platation life something i thoutght it read about none what ever just poets complaining

Not a quick read, to say the least, but rather something to go through slowly and piecemeal, savoring his oratory and vocabulary. (Did Du Bois popularize "zeitgeist" here a century before, e.g., Spy magazine?) Even when he's making the case for something that you feel is common sense or self-evident in 2024, he does so so beautifully that it's worth reading.

Very well written. Beautiful language, but it makes me see that our society has really not changed much in the last 150 years. Very sad.

It was a profound and passionate read!!!

I read this book immediately after reading Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery. It is 2015 in the USA and this book is still rightfully on the must read list. You can read this book just for it's historical and economic account of the times, for it's poetic, confessional and brilliant social commentary that is an anguished masterpiece . . . or because some teacher is making you read it. It must have been a revolution when it came out over 100 years ago. DuBois lived a long time after this book, but he still didn't live long enough for his complaints to be addressed. I think the chapter blasting BTW is a shame - DuBois accuses him of "propaganda", "indiscriminate flattery" and ouch . . . lacking in a manly outlook. Can't help wondering if this was really academic vs. tech school feuding. Anyway the book isn't all negative - hope remains, there is recognition and pride in the positives of American Blacks and their gifts to our country . . . not much mention of God - who seems to be in a place this book longs for . . . on the other side.P.S. This edition was clear, easy to read and a great price

This book teaches you so much about Black History and what Mr. DuBois believed in. It is such an honor to read a book from one of the most influential Black Historians. I highly recommend this book.

I bought this book because it was on an approved list for prison reading material, whereas a standard bestseller isn't. It is difficult to read because the language is quite dated and lyrical. Perhaps I would have liked the book better if I had read it as part of a graduate level course in Black History - so I would have a clearer idea of how to place this book in the context the author intended.