Du Bois’s accounts of how racism affected specific individuals allow readers to see philosophical issues in human terms. He also, however, demonstrates the challenges racism presents to individuals who embrace education as a tool for liberation. Washington, Du Bois analyzes the restrictiveness of education as a simple tool to prepare for work in pursuit of wealth (a trend still very much alive and well, especially in schools serving economically disadvantaged students).
At a time when American public schools are increasingly re-segregating, are increasingly underfunded, and are perhaps nearly as separate and unequal as they were in earlier decades, this classic can help readers grasp links between a slavery past and a dismal present for too many young people of color. Du Bois’s seminal work, The Souls of Black Folk, not only captures the experience of African Americans in the years following the Civil War but also speaks to contemporary conditions.
Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.W. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. This edition of Du Bois’s visionary masterpiece includes two additional essays that have become essential reading: “The Souls of White Folk,” from his 1920 book Darkwater, and “The Talented Tenth.”įor more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. Du Bois combines history and stirring autobiography to reflect on the magnitude of American racism and to chart a path forward against oppression, and introduces the now-famous concepts of the color line, the veil, and double-consciousness. Believing that one can know the “soul” of a race by knowing the souls of individuals, W.
When The Souls of Black Folk was first published in 1903, it had a galvanizing effect on the conversation about race in America-and it remains both a touchstone in the literature of African America and a beacon in the fight for civil rights.
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