Du Bois sets out the contributions of African Americans to the United States, from Black explorers in the Spanish expeditions and the labour that built the Southern economy to Black soldiers in every American war. Further chapters cover emancipation and Reconstruction as gains for democracy, Black women, the spirituals and folk song, art and literature, and the spiritual gifts of the race.
A 1924 argument by the great historian and activist that American civilisation cannot be understood without its Black makers. Download the free EPUB.