The Souls of Black Folk, was written by the 1st African-American to earn a PHD from Harvard: Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois. Originally published in 1903, this work of literature is regarded as a landmark work of Black Protest literature.
If you have the slightest interest in American history, racial justice, black history, the civil rights movement, or sociology, you will want to get this book.
It will be one that you will want to keep for your permanent library. This is a seminal work in the history of sociology and it has become a cornerstone of African-American literature.
Here is an excerpt from Chapter One:
The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, -this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.
The Souls of Black Folk contains several essays on race. To develop this work, Du Bois drew from his own experiences as an African American in American society. Outside of its notable relevance in African-American history, The Souls of Black Folk also holds an important place in social science as one of the early works in the field of sociology. In The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois used the term "double consciousness", perhaps taken from Ralph Waldo Emerson ("The Transcendentalist" and "Fate"), applying it to the idea that black people must have two fields of vision at all times. They must be conscious of how they view themselves, as well as being conscious of how the world views them.
He also addresses diverging opinions among the black leaders of the day about what are the best strategies and methods to gain racial equality. One can draw comparisons between the black lives matter movement of today to the earlier civil rights movements.
Here is a list of the book chapters:
The Forethought
Of Our Spiritual Strivings
Of the Dawn of Freedom
Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others
Of the Meaning of Progress
Of the Wings of Atalanta
Of the Training of Black Men
Of the Black Belt
Of the Quest of the Golden Fleece
Of the Sons of Master and Man
Of the Faith of the Fathers
Of the Passing of the First-Born
Of Alexander Crummell
Of the Coming of John
Of the Sorrow Songs
The Afterthought
