Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois

5 reviews

toffishay's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0

This is a seminal work in Black American studies and sociology that is required reading for anyone interested in learning a little more about the history of Black people and relations between Black and white people in America. As a Black woman who studied sociology, W.E.B. DuBois has always been a venerated ancestor and I have read many of these essays in my personal life and in my academic studies. They are limited by the time and his ideas are developed from a particular perspective, so while there are many notions with which I disagree, I can understand the value that they had at the time and the value that this scholarship has for us today. Some essays that are particular stand-outs for me: "Of Our Spiritual Strivings", "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others", "Of the Faith of the Fathers", "Of the Passing of the First-Born", "The Sorrow Songs", "The Talented Tenth", and "The Souls of White Folk"

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Genocide, Rape, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Cultural appropriation, and War

honeyvoiced's review

informative

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Slavery

Moderate: Racial slurs, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Violence

strange's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

The fact that much of what is said here still holds so true today is heartbreaking 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Hate crime, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, and Classism

clayby's review against another edition

informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

 

The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.

I'd been wanting to get into W.E.B. Du Bois' works for some time, and when I saw this beautiful "Penguin Vitae" edition of The Souls of Black Folk: With the Talented Tenth and the Souls of White Folk, I knew I just had to have it.

Onto the contents of the book, there's a very nice introduction written by Ibram X. Kendi (author of How to Be an Antiracist, among many other greats), followed by some suggestions for further reading. After this, we finally begin The Souls of Black Folk.

Throughout the book, Du Bois swings back and forth between an almost poetic prose and a more traditional textbook style. Some may find this to be disjointed and/or annoying, but I personally enjoyed it. Books from this era and before tend to lose me off and on, especially denser works, however, I found myself laser-focused on Du Bois' observations and findings.

Comparing all these pages, written over a century ago, to the world as it exists today, we as a society really haven't progressed much.

W.E.B. Du Bois was an incredibly brilliant man, and while he wasn't without his own blind-spots and shortcomings, I would say that The Souls of Black Folk: With the Talented Tenth and the Souls of White Folk is a timeless, invaluable work of sociology, as well as an essential piece of African-American writing. 

I hope more and more people read the works of Du Bois and other great Black minds. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Slavery

Moderate: Racial slurs and Colonisation

Minor: Violence, Antisemitism, and Classism

johnlandbenji's review

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Slavery