Black Reconstruction in America (The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois)

W. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. Du Bois's sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Du Bois was also a prolific author of novels, autobiographical accounts, innumerable editorials and journalistic pieces, and several works of history. Black Reconstruction in America tells and interprets the story of the twenty years of Reconstruction from the point of view of newly liberated African Americans. Though lambasted by critics at the time of its publication in 1935, Black Reconstruction has only grown in historical and literary importance. In the 1960s it joined the canon of the most influential revisionist historical works. Its greatest achievement is weaving a credible, lyrical historical narrative of the hostile and politically fraught years of 1860-1880 with a powerful critical analysis of the harmful effects of democracy, including Jim Crow laws and other injustices. With a series introduction by editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and an introduction by David Levering Lewis, this edition is essential for anyone interested in African American history.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He has edited several major reference works, including Dictionary of African Biography, African American Lives, Africana, and African American National Biography. In addition, he is Editor in Chief of the Oxford African American Studies Center (www.oxfordaasc.com).

Series Introduction: The Black Letters on the Sign Introduction To the Reader I. The Black Worker II. The White Worker III. The Planter IV. The General Strike V. The Coming of the Lord VI. Looking Backward VII. Looking Forward VIII. The Transubstantiation of a Poor White IX. The Price of Disaster X. The Black Proletariat in South Carolina XI. The Black Proletariat in Mississippi and Louisiana XII. The White Proletariat in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida XIII. The Duel for Labor Control on Border and Frontier XIV. Counter-Revolution of Propery XV. Founding the Public School XVI. Back Toward Slavery XVII. The Propaganda of History Bibliography Index William Edward Burghardt Du Bois: A Chronology Selected Bibliography