The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois

The Souls of Black Folk 

 W. E. B. Du Bois

African-American History 

Published 1903

The Well-Educated Mind Histories

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I finished this book in 2019 as part of TWEM histories. 

W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was an American author, born after the Civil War. After writing The Souls of Black Folk, he helped organize the NAACP (1904). He was involved in multiple occupations, including civil rights, peace activist, historian, and sociologist. He was a productive writer whose works affected history.

Personally, The Souls of Black Folk was one of the most cohesive and engaging books I have read in a long time. I can tell by how much I wrote on the pages. Half of my pages ended up like this:

I did not always agree with the author, but I understood why he thought the way he did. He made his case clearly. He was truly impassioned and zealous about his arguments. 

Some of the major ideas or arguments addressed by Du Bois included: 

How it felt to be a problem.

How the black man saw himself in this world.

What were the real causes of the Civil War.

What should the nation do with the newly freed slaves.

How government complicated everything?

Why the right to vote was most essential to the black man.

Why Du Bois disagreed with Booker T. Washington.

How wealth (or desire for wealth) is destroying the black man.

How should the Negro college respond?

Why Du Bois disagreed with capitalism.

What the causes of poverty were.

How blacks and whites interacted.

Segregation (the color line)

The characteristic of black religious life

The social history of blacks

Why blacks live a double life (black and American).

Why Freedom became Du Bois' religion.

What was the "shadow of the veil."

What the black folksong can tell us.

Why Du Bois went back to Africa.

More difficult arguments were against Booker T. Washington, whom I respect very much. Du Bois claimed that Washington placed the black man's problems squarely on his shoulders alone; whereas Du Bois argued, and quite intelligently, that the responsibility belonged to the North, or the United States government. 

Frankly, I accept both arguments equally. The government was responsible for the evils of slavery and the post-Civil War mistakes, which caused the difficulties that followed; but it was also wise to teach personal responsibility, as it made one more diligent, independent, and resourceful in the end.

Du Bois saw the desire for wealth as a stranglehold on black Americans, keeping them in slavery. He did not support capitalism, obviously, and believed it was one of the causes of racism. Instead he believed socialism was a better way to racial equality. (This I strongly disagreed with the author also.)

The book is bursting with arguments and evidence. It is well written and quite arresting. I only touched on two ideas. 

Should You Read This Book?

Americans should read it for an engrossing perspective on American history, especially African-American history. If you are interested in topics on slavery, post-Civil War and American history, African-American poetry and folksong, sociology, politics, and economics, you will want to read this. Again, it is very well written and probably a great example of how to write persuasive ideas in captivating and pleasing way. And in that case, if you want to be a great writer, read something by W. E. B. Du Bois.