W.E.B. Du Bois was a unique figure in his day. He was a well-traveled writer and thinker with a superb education, culminating with the first-ever doctorate a black American earned at Harvard. From his early life, he devoted himself to addressing the challenges of black people in America. In 1903, he combined several magazine articles and a short story into this anthology. At times serious and at other times lyrical, he strove to educate audiences about the special experience of black people in America and their contributions to American culture and life. More than a century later, it is fascinating how prescient Du Bois was in his analysis and how many of his observations, troublingly, still ring true today. [Editor’s note: Du Bois wrote in 1903, using the vocabulary of his time.]

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