The Souls of Black Folk

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The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches  
The Souls of Black Folk title page.jpg
The title page of the second edition
Author W.E.Burghardt Du Bois
Country United States
Language English
Publisher A.C. McClurg & Co., Chicago
Publication date 1903

The Souls of Black Folk is a classic work of American literature by W. E. B. Du Bois. It is a seminal work in the history of sociology, and a cornerstone of African-American literary history.

The book, published in 1903, contains several essays on race, some of which had been previously published in Atlantic Monthly magazine. Du Bois drew from his own experiences to develop this groundbreaking work on being African American in American society. Outside of its notable place in African-American history, The Souls of Black Folk also holds an important place in social science as one of the early works to deal with sociology.

Contents

[edit] Chapters

Chapter X: Of the Faith of the Fathers

In this essay, Du Bois argues that the Black Church is deeply connected to black political movements. Instead of seeing this as a positive, he sees this as a weakness that needs to be overcome. He sees the Church as the last remnants of tribal life that needs to be overthrown for Black Civilization to thrive. He says by the middle of the Eighteenth Century the black slave was sunk to the bottom of the economic ladder. Through this, he lost all joy in the world. The Church then offered him salvation in the next world, which he gripped to. Du Bois says the slave then, and the Black Man now must look to salvation in this life in order to build a culture of economic prosperity.

However, he said it was much better than the Christian Church in that it never excluded. He offered a future program for the Church of buying real estate for its members and increasing their economic status in society.

[edit] Critical reception

In Living Black History, Du Bois biographer Manning Marable observes:

Few books make history and fewer still become foundational texts for the movements and struggles of an entire people. The Souls of Black Folk occupies this rare position. It helped to create the intellectual argument for the black freedom struggle in the twentieth century. Souls justified the pursuit of higher education for Negroes and thus contributed to the rise of the black middle class. By describing a global color-line, Du Bois anticipated pan-Africanism and colonial revolutions in the Third World. Moreover, this stunning critique of how 'race' is lived through the normal aspects of daily life is central to what would become known as 'whiteness studies' a century later.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Manning Marable, Living Black History, p.96

[edit] Additional reading

  • Stanley Crouch and Playthell Benjamin, Reconsidering the Souls of Black Folk, Philadelphia: Running Press, 2003
  • Judy Boss, ed., ed (September 1996) [1903]. The Souls of Black Folk (Modified from 1989 Bantam Classic text ed.). Charlottesville: UVA Electronic Text Center. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/DubSoul.html. Retrieved 2006-03-22. 
  • Writings [The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade / The Souls of Black Folk / Dusk of Dawn / Essays and Articles] ((Hardcover) ed.). New York: Library of America. January 1987. ISBN 0-940450-33-X.  No commentary, just a brief "Note on the Texts."
  • The Souls of Black Folk (100th Anniversary Edition? (Paperback) ed.). New York: Signet Classic. August 1995. ISBN 0-451-52603-1.  Introduction by Randall Kenan.
  • The Souls of Black Folk (Penguin Classics reprint (paperback) ed.). New York: Penguin Books. April 1996. ISBN 0-14-018998-X.  Introduction by Donald B. Gibson.
  • Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Terri Hume Oliver, eds., ed (April 1999). The Souls of Black Folk: Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism (Norton Critical Edition (1st ed. paperback) ed.). New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-97393-X.  Includes photos from 1901 article, several contemporary essays, a chronology of Du Bois's life, annotations, and historical texts relating to the work.

[edit] External links

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