The Souls of Black Folk

Published in 1903, W.E.B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk is an important contribution to African-American literature, American literature, and sociology. A collection of 14 essays, the work is Du Bois’s description of the state of the South and African Americans’ lives at the turn of the 20th century. This guide is based on the Amazon Classics Kindle book edition.

In “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” Du Bois describes the psychological struggles of African Americans as they navigate a world that treats them as second-class Americans.

In “Of the Dawn of Freedom,” Du Bois offers a historical narrative of Emancipation and the years during which the Freedmen’s Bureau guided African Americans’ lives.

In “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others,” Du Bois attacks Washington’s focus on education and argues that his compromise on civil rights was moral and political cowardice.

In “Of the Wings of Progress,” Du Bois describes how little progress African Americans made toward gaining the benefits of freedom from the beginning of the US Civil War in 1861 until 1872.

In “Of the Wings of Atalanta,” Du Bois holds up modern Atlanta as a prime example of the dangers of materialism to the South, African Americans, and America.