Introduction to The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois

A classic work of African-American literature, The Souls of Black Folk (1903) was written by social scientist and civil rights activist W.E.B. DuBois. Theoretically innovative, grounded in wide sociological and historical understanding, and informed by personal experience, DuBois writes compellingly about the experience of being an African-American in American society. His concept of double-consciousness, which DuBois explains to be the “sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity,” holds continuing explanatory power as people in America and other countries confront their past and current racist practices and institutions.