Sacred Fire
It took renowned biographer David Levering Lewis eight years
to research and write William Edward Burghardt Du Bois's
monumental biography. And it stands as a testament to the hypnotic
voice and compelling vision of the man who was known as
the foremost constructor of the civil rights movement.
W. E. B. Du Bois, born in Massachusetts in 1868, was imbued
with a mix of Dutch, black, and French blood. Although he was
born three years after slavery was outlawed, Du Bois insisted that
equal rights for blacks were still missing from American society. A
man of staggering intellect and drive, Du Bois was the first black
to hold a doctorate from Harvard University and was one of the
founders of the NAACP. He wrote three historical works, two
novels, two autobiographies, and sixteen pioneering books on
sociology, history, politics, and race relations, including the monumental
achievement The Souls of Black Folk. Du Bois also shaped
the concept of a black intellectual elite, or a "Talented Tenth" of
politicians, writers, and thinkers who would unite black America
and foster the idea of blacks as a race of forceful and creative
thinkers.
In 1963 on the day of the civil rights march in Washington, a
speaker arrived with the news that Du Bois had died that momentous day
at the age of 95. A hush descended over the huge
crowd. A pall had settled because the man most responsible for
the event would not be able to see it. Such was the power of
Du Bois's personality, drive, intellect, and vision.
Kirkus Reviews
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963) has finally found a Boswell worthy of his achievements as an African-American reformer who fought for human rights in the US and the wider world. In the first part of a projected two-volume biography, Rutgers history professor Lewis (The Race to Fashoda, 1988, etc.) offers a detailed chronicle that puts the eventful origins of a towering figure clearly in the perspective of his troubled times. Born in western Massachusetts less than three years after the abolition of slavery, Du Bois managed to earn a doctorate in history from Harvard. After graduating, he pursued one of the few careers open to educated blacks, that of teaching—at Atlanta University and other institutions. Meanwhile, he published pioneering sociological studies (The Philadelphia Negro, etc.), arranged symposiums, and helped found the Niagara Movement—an all- black group that in 1909 joined forces with liberal whites to form the NAACP. Du Bois left academe to become the NAACP's director of research and publicity as well as editor of its influential magazine, The Crisis. From this bully pulpit, he battled for racial justice; conducted intellectual inquiries (among other matters, on the talented-tenth theory); critiqued the views of rivals like Booker T. Washington ("the great accommodator"); and otherwise played to the hilt the role of outside agitator (he was active in the Pan-African cause as well). Here, he's last seen after a post- WW I congress that called for direct League of Nations supervision of German colonies in Africa, as he himself returns to a society that brutally and methodically excluded "his people from meaningful citizenship...." A masterlyappreciation of a great man's intellectual development and singular service in a righteous crusade. (Thirty- two pages of photographs—not seen)
