The Souls of Black Folk

Written by W. E. B. Du Bois

Narrated by Royal Jaye

“Herein lies the tragedy of the age: not that men are poor, — all men know something of poverty; not that men are wicked, — who is good? not that men are ignorant, — what is Truth? Nay, but that men know so little of men.”

The Souls of Black Folk was published in 1903 as a collection of essays from W.E.B. Du Bois, an African-American sociologist who wrote frequently about his experiences as a Black man for magazines and other publications.

This book is comprised of 14 essays, with Du Bois’s overall message being that Black people were equally worthy of the rights of white people: to vote, to receive a good quality education, and to be treated justly. He explains that every Black person lives with a “double-consciousness,” always having to focus on how they seem themselves, but how the world around perceives them as well. The part of the African American consciousness devoted to outward perception is always living in tension with their own self-perception due to the negative perceptions by the world around them.

Du Bois’s priorities of education and justice for Black people is presented eloquently and logically throughout the entire essay collection. This book is held as a foundational piece of African American literature for its impact. It was referenced as being a critical piece of literature for the Civil Rights movement many decades later, because it inspired Black people to be discontent with anything less than true equality and justice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spotify Audiobooks
• Release date: Nov 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781662255700

W. E. B. Du Bois

W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was an African American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, and socialist. Born in Massachusetts, he was raised in Great Barrington, an integrated community. He studied at the University of Berlin and at Harvard, where he became the first African American scholar to earn a doctorate. He worked as a professor at Atlanta University, a historically black institution, and was one of the leaders of the Niagara Movement, which advocated for equal rights and opposed Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta compromise. In 1909, he cofounded the NAACP and served for years as the editor of its official magazine The Crisis. In addition to his activism against lynching, Jim Crow laws, and other forms of discrimination and segregation, Du Bois authored such influential works as The Souls of Black Folk (1903) and Black Reconstruction in America (1935). A lifelong opponent of racism and a committed pacifist, Du Bois advocated for socialism as a means of replacing racial capitalism in America and around the world. In the 1920s, he used his role at The Crisis to support the artists of the Harlem Renaissance and sought to emphasize the role of African Americans in shaping American society in his book The Gift of Black Folk (1924).

Reviews for The Souls of Black Folk

[Laurel Chor · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The narrator is a little difficult to understand and the volume is rather low, which makes it even harder.