W. E. B. Du Bois

An American Intellectual and Activist

By (author) Shawn Leigh Alexander Series edited by John David Smith

Publication date:

02 July 2015

Length of book:

168 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442207400

W. E. B. Du Bois was one of the most prolific African American authors, scholars, and leaders of the twentieth century, but none of his previous biographies have so practically and comprehensively introduced the man and his impact on American history as noted historian Shawn Alexander's W. E. B. Du Bois: An American Intellectual and Activist. Alexander tells Du Bois’ story in a clear and concise manner, exploring his racial strategy, civil rights activity, journalistic career, and his role as an international spokesman. The book also captures Du Bois’s life as a historian, sociologist, artist, propagandist, and peace activist, while providing space for the voices of his chief critics: Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, Walter White, the Young Turks of the NAACP—not to mention the federal government’s characterization of his ever-radicalizing beliefs, particularly after World War II. Alexander’s analysis traces the development of Du Bois' thought over time, beginning with his formative years in New England and ending with his death in Ghana. Paying significantly more attention to the many pivotal and previously unexamined intellectual moments in his life, this biography illustrates the experiences that helped bend and mold the indispensable thinker that W.E.B. Du Bois became: the kind whose crowning achievement is his continued relevance in contemporary culture, from classrooms to curbsides.

Preface
Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: The Early Years
Chapter 2: The Study of the Negro
Chapter 3: Du Bois, Booker T. Washington and Others: A Challenge of Leadership
Chapter 4: Building Movements: The NAACP, Pan-Africanism, Garvey, and a Renaissance
Chapter 5: Back to the Wings of Atlanta and the NAACP Redux
Chapter 6: Marching towards Peace

A Note on Sources
Index
About the Authors

The Library of African-American Biography is to be commended for giving readers an accessible biography of one of the most prolific writers of the 19th and 20th centuries and a constant champion of civil rights. W. E. B. Du Bois deserves this sympathetic telling of his life story, a 95-year life that had many phases, bridging Reconstruction and the March on Washington. Alexander draws on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, including Du Bois’s own voluminous writings, to chronicle his intellectual journey, downplay the oft-reported tensions with Booker T. Washington, give significant attention to Du Bois’s contribution to the founding and development of the NAACP, and describe Du Bois’s indefatigable role as editor of the NAACP magazine, The Crisis, a 20th-century voice in the struggle to improve race relations in the US. The author also recounts Du Bois’s often-strident anti-colonial positions and the challenges he faced in the midst of the anti-communist hysteria of the 1950s. . . .Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries.