September Classic of the Month: The Negro by W.E.B. Du Bois

We are celebrating back to school this September with our Classic of the Month, The Negro by W.E.B. Du Bois.

This is the classic history of the African peoples in Africa and the New World, a repudiation of the absurd belief, widely held in the post-Civil War period, that Africans had no civilization but the one foisted upon them by their slavetrading captors.

Writing for a popular audience in 1915, DuBois, one of America's greatest writers, lays out in easy-to-read, nonacademic prose the striking and illustrious story of the complex history and varied cultures of Africa, from the art and industry of the peoples of the continent to the dramatic impact the slave trade had both in Africa and on her descendents in the Western Hemisphere. 

Boldly proud and beautifully written, this essential work will delight readers of American and African history as well as students of great American literature. 

About the Author

American writer, civil rights activist, and scholar William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963) was the first black man to receive a PhD from Harvard University. A cofounder of the NAACP, he wrote a number of important books, including The Philadelphia Negro (1899) and Black Folk, Then and Now (1899).