First published in 1911, The Quest of the Silver Fleece is set in
Washington, D.C., and Alabama. The silver fleece refers to the cotton
industry, owned by powerful white men, who continued to make their
fortune through the labor of African-Americans. In the story, Blessed
Alwyn tries to come to terms with how a black man can integrate into
society. He gets an education and moves to Washington, where he meets
well-to-do blacks who seem to be living the kind of lives slaves had
struggled for. Only, Blessed comes to find out, they have to make many
compromises in order to be accepted by their white neighbors. Anyone
with an interest in race relations and life at the turn of the 20th
century will find this book about economics, race, love, and the hero's
quest an astute sociological study. 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), Black Folk, Then and Now (1899), and The
Negro (1915).