W. E. B. Du Bois: Black Radical Democrat

by Manning Marable

'Marable's biography of Du Bois is the best so far available.' Dr. Herbert Aptheker, Editor, The Correspondence of W.E.B. Du Bois 'Marable's excellent study focuses on the social thought of a major black American thinker who exhibited a 'basic coherence and unity' throughout a multifaceted career stressing cultural pluralism, opposition to social inequality, and black pride.' Library Journal Distinguished historian and social activist Manning Marable's book, W. E. B. Du Bois: Black Radical Democrat, brings out the interconnections, unity, and consistency of W. E. B. Du Bois's life and writings. Marable covers Du Bois's disputes with Booker T. Washington, his founding of the NAACP, his work as a social scientist, his life as a popular figure, and his involvement in politics, placing them into the context of Du Bois's views on black pride, equality, and cultural diversity. Marable stresses that, as a radical democrat, Du Bois viewed the problems of racism as intimately connected with capitalism. The publication of this updated edition follows more than one hundred celebrations recently marking the 100th anniversary of Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk. Marable broadens earlier biographies with a new introduction highlighting Du Bois's less-known advocacy of women's suffrage, socialism, and peace and he traces his legacy to today in an era of changing racial and social conditions.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Race

332 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1987

About the author

Manning Marable was an American professor of public affairs, history and African-American Studies at Columbia University. He founded and directed the Institute for Research in African-American Studies. He authored several texts and was active in progressive political causes. At the time of his death, he had completed a biography of human rights activist Malcolm X, entitled Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention.

Reviews

[Benjamin Fasching-Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Explains how we get from "The Talented Tenth" to joining the Communist Party. Du Bois, like most famous activists, got the "oh what a great guy" treatment after he died but while he lived was often pushed out of everything from academia and publishing to the organizations he himself had helped to found. So one of the big pushes to socialism is the constant betrayal from the Talented Tenth he'd placed so much hope in. He's pretty naive when he's reporting on the Soviet Union or Mao's China, and even worse on Imperial Japan, but on his home turf Du Bois lived long enough to learn from experience and to question his own assumptions. I think he's at his best when he advocates for African American cooperatives and collectives, but Marable is one of these Marxists who dismisses any power separate from the state. Du Bois's warnings to the Civil Rights movement activists about what to watch out for after integration and what might be lost when Black people give up their own institutions to participate in the wider society are nuanced and point at the same critiques that would come up in the more Black Power oriented groups that emerged after Du Bois died. I think it's interesting to consider that he'd experienced the South before Jim Crow and the growing racism and repression, knew it to be ugly and unjust, and so viewed repealing those Jim Crow laws as a half-step that wouldn't deal with economic and other inequalities. He knew the North, and "Western" Europe as well so he knew that structural racism runs deeper than water fountains and sandwich counters.

This was a pretty fast read that doesn't deal with much of Du Bois's personal life and maybe tries too hard to paint Du Bois's path as a straight one, bending some of the changes of direction to look more like soft curves instead of hard angles. Marable's social democrat viewpoint maybe also colors some of the analysis here, but it seems convincing that Du Bois is making the right decisions when he's being an antiracist social democrat and making the wrong decisions when he is, for example, voting for Woodrow Wilson.

I'm satisfied with this book, and its more recent introductory essay... I don't feel the need to read another biography of Du Bois, but I am looking forward to reading some of Du Bois's books.

[David Hollingsworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a historian myself, Manning Marable is one of my favorite historians to read. He is the historian I've read that best analyzes the intersection of class & race in his works. When I read he'd written a book about Du Bois, I knew I had to get it.

I came into this work only knowing about Du Bois in passing. In the introduction Marable says this is something of a political biography of Du Bois. That definitely fits. The book is a biography, but it weaves his life story with what he generally thought intellectually at the time about race, class, and other such issues at the time, as Du Bois's outlook shifted in the details quite a bit throughout the years.

Some people here found the book over-academic. I personally didn't have much trouble with it (and I generally don't like super academic books), but it certainly isn't a light biography either. It's well written enough that most history fans will appreciate it, but if you're looking for an airy portrayal of a person that's structured more like a popular/easy-reading biography, this might not be for you.

My appreciate for Du Bous grew immensely through reading this book. His mix of black cultural pride, socialism, pan-Africanism, & international cooperation is fascinating & worth ruminating on for everyone. Marable does a great job laying everything out. I'd highly recommend this book.

[Julian Pritchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this biography from the mid-1980s after reading Marable's Malcolm X biography. This one, too, is wonderful.

[John Oliver]

This is a great story about a great thinker. The discrimination Du Bois faced cost this country a great mind.

[David Withun · Rating 4 out of 5]

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