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W. E. B. Du Bois

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W. E. B. Du Bois
human
Ein sex anaa gendermale Edit
Ein country of citizenshipUnited States, Ghana Edit
Name in native languageWilliam Edward Burghardt Du Bois Edit
Name wey dem give amWilliam, Edward, Burghardt Edit
Family nameDu Bois Edit
Ein date of birth23 February 1868 Edit
Place dem born amGreat Barrington Edit
Date wey edie27 August 1963 Edit
Place wey edieAccra Edit
Place wey dem bury amOsu Castle, W.E.B. Dubois Memorial Centre for Pan African Culture Edit
SpouseNina Gomer Du Bois, Shirley Graham Du Bois Edit
KiddieNina Yolande Du Bois Edit
RelativeOthello Burghardt Edit
Native languageEnglish Edit
Languages edey speak, rep anaa signEnglish Edit
Writing languageEnglish Edit
Ein field of workcivil and political rights Edit
EmployerThe New School, Wilberforce University, University of Georgia, University of Pennsylvania, Clark Atlanta University Edit
Position eholdcivil rights advocate Edit
Doctoral advisorGustav von Schmoller, Albert Bushnell Hart Edit
ResidenceAtlanta, Ghana, Berlin Edit
Political party ein memberSocialist Party of America Edit
Ethnic groupAfrican Americans Edit
Contributed to creative workFreedom Edit
Notable workThe Souls of Black Folk, John Brown, Black Reconstruction, Dusk of Dawn, The Philadelphia Negro Edit
Dey archive forBeinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Edit
Member ofGerman Academy of Sciences at Berlin, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Alpha Phi Alpha, NAACP, American Academy of Arts and Letters Edit
Influenced byAlexander Crummell, William James Edit
Award e receiveLenin Peace Prize, Spingarn Medal, National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame Edit
Copyright status as creatorworks protected by copyrights Edit

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (/duːˈbɔɪs/ doo-BOYSS;[1] February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) na he be an American sociologist, socialist, historian, den Pan-Africanist civil rights activist.

Na dem born am insyd Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grow up insyd a relatively tolerant den integrated community. After he plete ein graduate work for de Friedrich Wilhelm University insyd Berlin den Harvard University, wer na he be ein first African American make he earn a doctorate, na Du Bois rise to national prominence as a leader of de Niagara Movement, a group of black civil rights activists wey dey seek equal rights. Na Du Bois den ein supporters oppose de Atlanta Compromise. Instead, na Du Bois insist on full civil rights den increased political representation, wich na he believe dem go bring about by de African-American intellectual elite. Na he refer to dis group as de talented tenth, a concept under de umbrella of racial uplift, wey he believe dat African Americans need de chance for advanced education to develop dema leadership.

Na Du Bois be one of de founders of de National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) insyd 1909. Na Du Bois use ein position insyd de NAACP make he respond to racist incidents. After de First World War, na he attend de Pan-African Congresses, na he embrace socialism wey he cam turn a professor for Atlanta University. Once na de Second World War end, he engage insyd peace activism wey na he be targeted by de Federal Bureau of Investigation. Na he spend de last years of ein life insyd Ghana wey he die insyd Accra on August 27, 1963.

Na Du Bois be a prolific author. Na he primarily target racism plus ein writing, wich na he protest strongly against lynching, Jim Crow laws, den racial discrimination insyd important social institutions. Na ein cause include people of color everywer, particularly Africans den Asians insyd colonies. Na he be a proponent of Pan-Africanism wey na he help organize chaw meetings of de Pan-African Congress make e fight for de independence of African colonies from European powers. Na Du Bois make chaw trips to Europe, Africa den Asia. Ein collection of essays, The Souls of Black Folk, be a seminal work insyd African-American literature; den ein 1935 magnum opus, Black Reconstruction in America, challenge de prevailing orthodoxy wey na blacks be responsible for de failures of de Reconstruction era. Dey borrow a phrase from Frederick Douglass, na he popularize de use of de term color line make e represent de injustice of de separate buh equal doctrine prevalent insyd American social den political life. Dem dey ein 1940 autobiography Dusk of Dawn in part as one of de first scientific treatises insyd de field of American sociology. Insyd ein role as editor of de NAACP ein journal The Crisis, na he publish chaw influential pieces. Na Du Bois believe dat capitalism be a primary cause of racism wey na he be sympathetic to socialist causes.

Early life

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Family den kiddie

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Na dem born Du Bois on February 23, 1868, insyd Great Barrington, Massachusetts, to Alfred den Mary Silvina Burghardt Du Bois. Na Mary Silvina Burghardt ein family be part of de very small free black population of Great Barrington wey na she own land insyd de state longest. Na she descend from Dutch, African, den English ancestors. Na William Du Bois ein maternal great-great-grandpoppie be Tom Burghardt, a slave (dem born insyd West Africa around 1730) wey na dem hold am by de Dutch colonist Conraed Burghardt. Na Tom briefly serve insyd de Continental Army during de American Revolutionary War, wich fi be dat be how he gain ein freedom during de late 18th century. Na ein son Jack Burghardt be de poppie of Othello Burghardt, wey in turn be de poppie of Mary Silvina Burghardt.

A photograph of Du Bois as an infant being held by his mother
Du Bois as an infant plus ein mommie

University education

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De title page of Du Bois ein Harvard dissertation, Suppression of the African Slave Trade in the United States of America: 1638–1871

Na he rely on dis money wey be donated by neighbors, Du Bois attend Fisk University, a historically black college insyd Nashville, Tennessee, from 1885 to 1888. Like oda Fisk students wey na dem rely on summer den intermittent teaching make e support dema university studies, na Du Bois teach school during de summer of 1886 after ein sophomore year.[2] Na ein travel to den residency insyd de South be Du Bois ein first experience plus Southern racism, wich for de time encompassed Jim Crow laws, bigotry, suppression of black voting, den lynchings; na de lattermost reach a peak insyd de next decade.

After na he receive ein bachelor's degree from Fisk University, Du Bois attend Harvard College (wich na e no dey accept course credits from Fisk) from 1888 to 1890, wey he cam turn de sixth admitted African American insyd ein history. Na he be strongly influenced by professor William James, prominent insyd American philosophy. Na Du Bois pay ein way thru three years at Harvard plus money from summer jobs, an inheritance, scholarships, den loans from paddies. Insyd 1890, na Harvard award Du Bois ein second bachelor's degree, cum laude. Insyd 1891, Du Bois receive a scholarship make he attend de sociology graduate school at Harvard.

Insyd 1892, Du Bois receive a fellowship from de John F. Slater Fund for the Education of Freedmen make he attend Friedrich Wilhelm University for graduate work. While a student insyd Berlin, he travel extensively thru out Europe. He intellectually cam of age insyd de German capital while na he dey study plus sam of dat nation ein most prominent social scientists, wey dey include Gustav von Schmoller, Adolph Wagner, den Heinrich von Treitschke. Na he sanso meet Max Weber wey a he be highly impressed plus Du Bois wey he later cite Du Bois as a counter-example to racists wey dey allege de inferiority of Blacks. Weber san meet Du Bois insyd 1904 on a visit to de US just ahead of de publication of de seminal The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

Atlanta University

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Insyd July 1897, na Du Bois lef Philadelphia wey he take a professorship insyd history den economics at de historically black Atlanta University insyd Georgia. Na ein first major academic work be ein book The Philadelphia Negro (1899), a detailed den comprehensive sociological study of de African-American people of Philadelphia, based on ein fieldwork insyd 1896–1897. Na dis breakthru insyd scholarship be de first scientific study of African Americans den a major contribution to early scientific sociology insyd de U.S.[3]

First Pan-African Conference

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Na Du Bois attend de First Pan-African Conference, na dem hold insyd London on July 23–25, 1900. Na de Conference be organized by people wey komot de Caribbean: Haitians Anténor Firmin den Benito Sylvain den Trinidadian barrister Henry Sylvester Williams. Na Du Bois close de conference by he deliver a speech dem entitle "To the Nations of the World", insyd wich na he ask European leaders make dem ensure equal opportunity give all races, make dem allow dema colonies de right to self-government, den to recognise de political den human rights of African Americans. Na dis cam amidst a period insyd wich na southern states dey pass legislation make e effectively prevent African Americans from voting, an exclusion from de political system wey na e last til de 1960s.

1900 Paris Exposition

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Booker T. Washington den de Atlanta Compromise

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Niagara Movement

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The Souls of Black Folk

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Racial violence

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Academic work

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Honors den legacy

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  • Na de NAACP award de Spingarn Medal to Du Bois insyd 1920.
  • Insyd 1958, na dem induct Du Bois into de Fisk University chapter of Phi Beta Kappa wen na he return to campus make he receive an honorary degree.[4]
  • Insyd 1959, na dem award Du Bois de International Lenin Peace Prize by de USSR.
  • Insyd 1975, de W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research, later part of de Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, na dem establish at Harvard University.
  • De site of de house wer na Du Bois grow up insyd Great Barrington, Massachusetts, na dem designate a National Historic Landmark insyd 1976.[5]
  • Insyd 1992, na de United States Postal Service honor Du Bois plus ein portrait on a postage stamp.[6] Na dem issue a second stamp of face value 32¢ on February 3, 1998, as part of de Celebrate the Century stamp sheet series.
  • Insyd 1994, na dem name de main library at de University of Massachusetts Amherst give Du Bois. Na he transfer ein papers to de university via ein literary executor, historian Herbert Aptheker.[7]
  • Insyd 2000, Harvard ein Hutchins Center for African & African American Research begin dey award de W. E. B. Du Bois Medal, wich dem consider Harvard ein highest honor insyd de field of African and African American studies.[8]
  • Na dem name a dormitory give Du Bois at de University of Pennsylvania, wer na he conduct field research for ein sociological study The Philadelphia Negro.[9]
  • Na dem name a dormitory give Du Bois at Hampton University.
  • Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African-American Experience na e be inspired by den dedicated to Du Bois by ein editors Kwame Anthony Appiah den Henry Louis Gates Jr.[10]
  • De Humboldt University of Berlin dey host a series of lectures dem name insyd ein honor.[11]
  • Na Scholar Molefi Kete Asante list Du Bois insyd ein 2002 list of de 100 Greatest African Americans.[12]
  • Insyd 2005, na dem honour Du Bois plus a medallion insyd The Extra Mile, Washington DC's memorial to important American volunteers.[13]
  • Na de highest career award wey be given by de American Sociological Association, de W.E.B. Du Bois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award, na dem rename give Du Bois insyd 2006.
  • Na dem appoint Du Bois Honorary Emeritus Professor at de University of Pennsylvania insyd 2012.[14][15]
  • Na dem commission a bust from Ayokunle Odeleye make dem honor Du Bois, wey na e be dedicated on de Clark Atlanta University on de anniversary of ein birth, February 23, 2013.[16]
  • Insyd 2015, na dem found de Du Bois Orchestra at Harvard.[17]
  • Insyd March 2018, na dem award Du Bois Grand Prix de la Mémoire for de Grand Prix of Literary Associations 2017.[18]
  • Na dem feature Du Bois as a character insyd de 2020 Netflix miniseries Self Made, wey Cornelius Smith Jr. portray.
  • Insyd 2023 na de government of Ghana sign a Memorandum of Understanding plus de W.E.B Du Bois Museum Foundation make dem develop, rebrand, operate den manage de W. E. B. Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan African Culture into a major new educational complex to preserve den continue Du Bois ein legacy.[19] Insyd 2024, na de Mellon Foundation announce a US$5 million grant make dem provide leadership funds for four years insyd Phase 1 of de new complex ein development.[20]
  • Na dem name de W. E. B. Du Bois Center at de University of Virginia give am.[21]

Works dem select

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Non-fiction books

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  • The Study of the Negro Problems (1898)
  • The Philadelphia Negro (1899)
  • The Negro in Business (1899)
  • The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
  • "The Talented Tenth", second chapter of The Negro Problem, a collection of articles by African Americans (September 1903)
  • Voice of the Negro II (September 1905)
  • John Brown (1909)
  • Efforts for Social Betterment among Negro Americans (1909)
  • Atlanta University's Studies of the Negro Problem (1897–1910)
  • The Negro (1915)
  • The Gift of Black Folk: The Negroes in the Making of America (1924)[22]
  • Africa, Its Geography, People and Products (1930)
  • Africa: Its Place in Modern History (1930)
  • Black Reconstruction in America (1935)
  • What the Negro Has Done for the United States and Texas (1936)
  • Black Folk, Then and Now (1939)
  • Color and Democracy: Colonies and Peace (1945)
  • The Encyclopedia of the Negro (1946)
  • The World and Africa (1946)
  • The World and Africa, an Inquiry into the Part Which Africa Has Played in World History (1947)
  • Peace Is Dangerous (1951)
  • I Take My Stand for Peace (1951)
  • In Battle for Peace (1952)
  • Africa in Battle Against Colonialism, Racialism, Imperialism (1960)

Articles

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  • Du Bois, W. E. Burghardt (1898). "The Study of the Negro Problems". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 11: 1–23. JSTOR 1009474.
  • Du Bois, W. E. Burghardt (June 1919). "An Essay Toward a History of the Black Man in the Great War". The Crisis. 18 (2): 63–87.
  • Du Bois, W. E. Burghardt (1933). "Liberia, the League and the United States". Foreign Affairs. 11 (4): 682–695. doi:10.2307/20030546. JSTOR 20030546.
  • Du Bois, W. E. B. (1935). "Inter-Racial Implications of the Ethiopian Crisis: A Negro View". Foreign Affairs. 14 (1): 82–92. doi:10.2307/20030704. JSTOR 20030704.
  • Du Bois, W. E. B. (1938). "Black Africa Tomorrow". Foreign Affairs. 17 (1): 100–110. doi:10.2307/20028906. JSTOR 20028906.

Autobiographies

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  • Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil (1920)
  • Dusk of Dawn: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept (1940)
  • The Autobiography of W. E. Burghardt Du Bois (1968)

Novels

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  • The Quest of the Silver Fleece (1911)
  • Dark Princess: A Romance (1928)
  • The Black Flame Trilogy:
    • The Ordeal of Mansart (1957)
    • Mansart Builds a School (1959)
    • Worlds of Color (1961)

Archives of The Crisis

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Na Du Bois edit The Crisis from 1910 to 1933, wey e dey contain chaw of ein important polemics.

Recordings

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Dissertations

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Speeches

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  • Foner, Philip S., ed. (1970). W. E. B. Du Bois Speaks: Speeches and Addresses, 1890–1919. New York: Pathfinder Press. ISBN 978-0-87348-181-6.
  • Foner, Philip S., ed. (1970). W. E. B. Du Bois Speaks: Speeches and Addresses, 1920–1963. New York: Pathfinder Press. ISBN 978-0-87348-182-3.

References

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  1. Lewis, David Levering (1993). W. E. B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race 1868–1919. New York City: Henry Holt and Co. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-4668-4151-2. [Du Bois] would unfailingly insist upon the 'correct' pronunciation of his surname. 'The pronunciation of my name is Due Boyss, with the accent on the last syllable,' he would patiently explain to the uninformed.
  2. Fultz, Michael (February 2021). "Determination and Persistence: Building the African American Teacher Corps through Summer and Intermittent Teaching, 1860s–1890s". History of Education Quarterly. 61 (1): 4–34. doi:10.1017/heq.2020.65.
  3. Lange, Werner J. (1983). "W. E. B. Du Bois and the First Scientific Study of Afro-America". Phylon. 44 (2): 135–146. doi:10.2307/275025. JSTOR 275025. [T]he pioneering studies of African cultures and Afro-American realities and history initiated by W. E. B. Du Bois from 1894 until 1915 stand not only as the first studies of black people on a firm scientific basis altogether whether classified among the social or historical sciences but they also represent the earliest ethnographies of Afro-America as well as a major contribution to the earliest corpus of social scientific literature from the United States.
  4. "W. E. B. Du Bois and members of Phi Beta Kappa, Fisk University, 1958, 1958". credo.library.umass.edu. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  5. Savage, Beth, (1994), African American Historic Places, John Wiley and Sons, p. 277.
  6. Sama, Dominic, "New U.S. Issue Honors W. E. B. Du Bois", Chicago Tribune, February 2, 1992. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
  7. Han, John J. (2007), "W. E. B. Du Bois", in Encyclopedia of American Race Riots, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 181.
  8. "W. E. B. Du Bois Medal Recipients. The Hutchins Center for African & African American Research". hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  9. "The History of W. E. B. Du Bois College House" Archived January 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
  10. Bloom, Harold (2001), W. E. B. Du Bois, Infobase Publishing, p. 244.
  11. "W. E. B. Du Bois Lectures" Archived February 16, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Humboldt University. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
  12. Asante, Molefi Kete (2002), 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia, Prometheus Books, pp. 114–116.
  13. "Noteworthy", The Crisis, November/December 2005, p. 64.
  14. "Dr. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois: Honorary Emeritus Professorship of Sociology and Africana Studies", The University of Pennsylvania Almanac, Volume 58, No. 21, February 7, 2012.
  15. "W. E. B. Du Bois receives honorary emeritus professorship", The Daily Pennsylvanian, February 19, 2012.
  16. "Du Bois Art Projects". CAUDuBoisLegacy.net. Clark Atlanta University. Archived from the original on October 20, 2017. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
  17. "Education Outreach Through Music". Harvard Graduate School of Education. November 20, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  18. Tientcheu, Marchelo (March 29, 2018), "Cameroun/Littérature: WEB du Bois, Grand Prix de la Mémoire aux GPAL 2017" Archived December 17, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Lebledparle.com.
  19. "WEBDBMF :: MoU Signing New York - USA".
  20. "W.E.B. Du Bois Museum Foundation Awarded $5m Grant by Mellon Foundation" (Press release).
  21. "University of Virginia". August 18, 2024. Retrieved August 18, 2024.
  22. Bois, W. E. B. (2020). The Gift of Black Folk The Negroes in the Making of America. Newburyport: Open Road Media. ISBN 9781504064200. OCLC 1178648633. Retrieved October 15, 2020.

Sources

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Read further

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  • Adams, John Henry (1905). "Rough Sketches. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois". Voice of the Negro. Negro periodicals in the United States: 176–181.
  • Appiah, Kwame Anthony (2014). Lines of Descent: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Emergence of Identity. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-72491-4.
  • Broderick, Francis L. (1959), W. E. B. Du Bois: Negro Leader in a Time of Crisis, Stanford University Press. ASIN B000X665SM.
  • Bulmer, Martin (1991). "W. E. B. Du Bois as a Social Investigator: The Philadelphia Negro, 1899", in Martin Bulmer, Kevin Bales, and Kathryn Kish Sklar, eds. The Social Survey in Historical Perspective, 1880–1940 pp. 170–188.
  • Crouch, Stanley and Playthell Benjamin (2002), Reconsidering the Souls of Black Folk, Running Press.
  • Dorrien, Gary (2015). The New Abolition: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300205602.
  • Getachew, Adom; Pitts, Jennifer (eds.). 2022. W. E. B. Du Bois: International Thought. Cambridge University Press.
  • Lewis, David Levering (1994), W. E. B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868–1919, Owl Books. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Bancroft Prize, and the Francis Parkman Prize. ISBN 978-0-8050-6813-9.
  • Lewis, David Levering (2001), W. E. B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century 1919–1963, Owl Books. Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. ISBN 978-0-8050-6813-9.
  • Lewis, David Levering, and Deborah Willis (2005), A Small Nation of People: W. E. B. Du Bois and African American Portraits of Progress, HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-081756-9.
  • Meier, August (1963), Negro Thought in America, 1880–1915: Racial Ideologies in the Age of Booker T. Washington, University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0472061181.
  • Morris, Aldon D., ed. (2022). The Oxford Handbook of W.E.B. Du Bois. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190062767.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-006279-8.
  • Mullen, Bill V. (2015). Un-American: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Century of World Revolution. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1439911105.
  • Mullen, Bill V. (2016). W.E.B. Du Bois: Revolutionary Across the Color Line. London, UK: Pluto Press. ISBN 978 0 7453 3506 3.
  • Rampersad, Arnold (1976), The Art and Imagination of W. E. B. Du Bois, Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-04711-2.
  • Richardson, Mark (2019). "W.E.B. Du Bois and the Redemption of the Body". The Wings of Atalanta: Essays Written Along the Color Line. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 73–109. ISBN 978-1-57113-239-0.
  • Rudwick, Elliott M. (1968), W. E. B. Du Bois: Propagandist of the Negro Protest, University of Pennsylvania Press, .
  • Shaw, Stephanie J. (2013), W. E. B. Du Bois and "The Souls of Black Folk". Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1469626437.
  • Sterne, Emma Gelders (1971), His Was the Voice: The Life of W. E. B. Du Bois, Crowell-Collier Press. Book for children.
  • Sundquist, Eric J. (1996) (Ed.), The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois Reader, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-509178-6.
  • Williams, Chad L. The Wounded World: WEB DuBois and the First World War (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023). ISBN 9780374293154
  • Wolfenstein, Eugene Victor (2007), A Gift of the Spirit: Reading The Souls of Black Folk, Cornell University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-8014-7353-5.
  • Wright, William D. (1985), The Socialist Analysis of W. E. B. Du Bois, Ph.D. dissertation, State University of New York at Buffalo.
  • Zuckerman, Phil (2000), Du Bois on Religion, Rowman & Littlefield. A collection of Du Bois's writings on religion. ISBN 978-0-7425-0421-9.

Documentaries

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Online editions

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