Historically famous critics
W. E. B. Du Bois
1868-1963 · American · 19th-20th century
American scholar and activist who dissected the color line and white supremacy
Du Bois was the founding sociologist of American race, who proved with data and prose that Black subordination was engineered rather than natural. He named the color line as the defining problem of the century and challenged both white-supremacist scholarship and accommodationist Black leadership. Black Reconstruction demolished the racist historical consensus of his era, and his lifelong critique of segregation, empire, and capitalism helped build the intellectual foundation of the civil rights and Pan-African movements.
Essays to read on AltWoke
24 essays, full text, free. Grouped by the collection they appeared in.
The Souls of Black Folk (14)
- Of Our Spiritual Strivings
- Of the Dawn of Freedom
- Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others
- Of the Meaning of Progress
- Of the Wings of Atalanta
- Of the Training of Black Men
- Of the Black Belt
- Of the Quest of the Golden Fleece
- Of the Sons of Master and Man
- Of the Faith of the Fathers
- Of the Passing of the First-Born
- Of Alexander Crummell
- Of the Coming of John
- Of the Sorrow Songs
Wrote against
- racism
- white supremacy
- segregation
- the color line
- Reconstruction historiography
- colonialism
- exploitation of Black labor
Books
Complete bibliography. Public-domain titles link to the full text; others link out to read, borrow, or buy.
- The Philadelphia NegroInternet Archive · free, public domain1899
- The Souls of Black FolkProject Gutenberg · free, public domain1903
- John BrownInternet Archive · free, public domain1909
- The Quest of the Silver FleeceInternet Archive · free, public domain1911
- The NegroProject Gutenberg · free, public domain1915
- Darkwater: Voices from Within the VeilProject Gutenberg · free, public domain1920
- The Gift of Black FolkInternet Archive · free, public domain1924
- Black Reconstruction in AmericaInternet Archive · borrow1935
- Dusk of DawnInternet Archive · borrow1940
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: W. E. B. Du Bois
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: W. E. B. Du Bois