This is the classic history of the African peoples in Africa and the New
World, a repudiation of the absurd belief, widely held in the post-Civil
War period, that Africans had no civilization but the one foisted upon
them by their slavetrading captors. Writing for a popular audience in
1915, DuBois, one of America's greatest writers, lays out in
easy-to-read, nonacademic prose the striking and illustrious story of
the complex history and varied cultures of Africa, from the art and
industry of the peoples of the continent to the dramatic impact the
slave trade had both in Africa and on her descendents in the Western
Hemisphere. Boldly proud and beautifully written, this essential work
will delight readers of American and African history as well as students
of great American literature. American writer, civil rights activist,
and scholar WILLIAM EEDWARD BURGHARDT DUBOIS (1868-1963) was the first
black man to receive a PhD from Harvard University. A cofounder of the
NAACP, he wrote a number of important books, including The Philadelphia
Negro (1899) and Black Folk, Then and Now (1899).