Originally published in 1899, The Philadelphia Negro is a sociological
study of the blacks living in Philadelphia in 1896-7. DuBois was hired
by the University of Pennsylvania to conduct the study, under what some
believe to be false pretenses. Some suspect that the study was meant, by
those funding it, to show how the black community was responsible for a
number of problems within the city. The report they received, however,
was of quite a different nature. The Philadelphia Negro was the first
sociological study of black urban Americans ever conducted. It detailed
their lives, their social structures, their education, their marriages,
and their jobs. The study sought to illuminate ways in which
philanthropy could help the people living in Philadelphia's Seventh
Ward. It did not presume, as many people did at the time, that blacks
lived in poor conditions due to an innate weakness in their race. This
scholarly work serves as an excellent reference for students of history
and sociology. American writer, civil rights activist, and scholar
WILLIAM EDWARD 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 Black Folk, Then and Now
(1899) and The Negro (1915).
