The Negro (Forgotten Books)

W.E.B Dubois is most famous for being one of the founders of the N.A.A.C.P and for his critique of Booker T. Washingtons Atlanta Compromise speech in his now famous The Souls of Black Folk which is required reading at most Black Studies Departments at universities throughout the United States in fact a typical United States History program may have you read it as well;however, DuBois book the Negro for which this review is about seems to be less popular and I find that many people have not read it and the historians who mention it rarely talk about it in detail, essentially the book gives a history of African people in Africa,America,and the Caribbean and talks about their accomplishments and struggles from ancient(5000B.C) to modern times(1915). After reading this book I now know why many programs rarely use this book I cant help but believe it is because the book is very Afrocentric in its structure.....I was shocked to find out that when it came to the history of ancient Africa Dubois has more in common with the afrocentrist Molefi Asante than many may realize and less in common with the more popular scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.(regardless of whether he is a part of the W.E.B Dubois Department at Harvard) I saw Henry Louis Gates PBS documentary Wonders of the African World maybe about five years ago and I remember how skeptical he was about connecting Ancient Egypt to the rest of sub-saharan Africa......DuBois is not shy at all when he states that Egypt is indeed a part of Africa and that the people who founded Egypt were Negro(this was the word used at the time the book was written)Dubois was more radical than people realize he was one of the founders of Pan-African Congress I believe there were five in all, he would eventually leave the N.A.A.C.P abandon the idea of integration, become a socialist(The F.B.I had a file on him), move back to Africa and die in Ghana.....in fact Dubois would have more in common with his enemy Marcus Garvey(Dubois in his early career would criticize Garvey for his back to Africa movement)than he would realize. Its a great read for anyone interested in this African-American intellectual giant it may change your perspective on the man you think you know, but it should make you find him even more interesting. I will warn you that the book is dated it was written in 1915 so some of his theories are proven wrong, one example would be that Dubois at the time thought that man originated in the Middle East, thanks to the archaeological and DNA record we now know that man originated in Africa, but enjoy this book and may it increase our understanding of this great man

This is often hard to read, not only because its old and written in a rather long, drawn out style that was once used, but because of the content. Im sure when it was written, this was seen as pro-negro, but reading it from a modern perspective sometimes makes you cringe in areas. That said, however, I think its important to see and understand history as it is, and this is part of that, so it has been interesting, though sometimes it gets a bit dull or uncomfortable for me.

Had to honestly read this book a couple of times. There is a ton of information crammed into such a short book, and I continuously find new facts that I did not notice before. Highly informative... slightly overwhelming but would definitely recommend.

Then and now. Teaching tool

I like the chronological order and the wide geography Du Bois covered. For me, although the subject is very complex, the subject matter was easy to digest. It may have been because I do have some knowledge of the the basic matter. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know the history of the Negro and the interactions with other races.

Excellent purchase. Thank you

Beginning with the first men and continuing all the way through the modern era, Mr. Du Bois follows the history of the negro, their challenges and their many triumphs in the course of human history.

This book still relates to todays times the goal is to learn from our ancestors and apply there knowledge and todays knowledge to make African Race see there true selves and know we can achieve so much more with many obstacles ahead

A book written by W.E.B. Du Bois and his eyes were finally open to where Marcus Garvey was coming from if you catch my drift!

that needed to be written. Now, if we could only get an updated version of this. Wonderfully written. A true masterpiece of a contribution from the great W.E.B. Du Bois.