W. E. B. Du Bois on poverty and racial inequality

W. E. B. Du Bois was a philosopher, sociologist, historian, advocate of racial justice and social critic, a sort of twentieth-century Renaissance man. He is best known for several works that studied poverty and the socio-economic condition of African Americans at the turn of the twentieth century, as well as for numerous books and articles advocating racial justice and opposing racial prejudice. This chapter focuses on Du Bois’ pioneering work on measuring poverty in the United States and analyzing the plight of African Americans at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century.