William Edward Burghardt "W. E. B." Du Bois
An item at American Writers Museum
William Edward Burghardt "W. E. B." Du Bois was a leading voice in the fight for civil rights, a co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Du Bois was also an advocate of Pan Africanism, encouraging African colonies to fight for independence from European powers.
The first African-American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard, Du Bois was an academic activist. His collection of essays, The Souls of Black Folk (1903), is a seminal work of sociology and African-American literature, brilliantly advocating for the full rights of African-Americans and vigorously denouncing the notion of biological white superiority. Black Reconstruction in America (1935) scathingly rebukes the theory that African-Americans were to blame for the failure of Reconstruction.
AMERICAN VOICES
An exhibit at American Writers Museum
American writing is distinctive, diverse, and comes in many forms from across the nation. The 100 authors featured here represent the evolution of American writing. Learn more about each writer on the timeline by turning the panels below their portraits. Explore centuries of writing by pulling, turning, and touching the interactive elements on the counter.
This is not meant to be a list of the greatest or most influential writers. Instead, we present authors and works as part of the American story as it grows and changes. Taken together, this rich literary heritage reflects America in all of its complexity: its energy, hope, conflict, disillusionment, and creativity.