Robert McCrum at The Guardian writes appreciatively of a figure whose kind is desperately wanting in our present time, W.E.B. Du Bois; and he rightly places him in the activist tradition whose standard bearer, Barack Obama, has been replaced by somebody who we can barely stand, representing the opposing tradition. It is not only for its literary merit, then, thatThe Souls of Black Folk, is considered by the folks at The Guardian as being among the top 100 non-fiction books of all time, but also for the activist function it has served in being one of the foundational texts of the civil rights movement.
WEB Du Bois: much of his rhetorical power came from knowledge of the King James Bible. Photograph: Keystone/Getty Images
Du Bois, once one of Americas greatest social activists, has become sadly neglected, but his work was far ahead of its time. The ideas expressed here not only inspired the renewed black consciousness of the 1960s, exemplified by the differing careers of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, but also contributed to establishing The Souls of Black Folk as a founding text of the US civil rights movement. This is at once a work of advocacy, rhetoric and literature, a vital thread in the tapestry of American prose. In the acclaimed 2016 novel Home going by Yaa Gyasi, the narrator describes Sonny reading The Souls of Black Folk in prison: Hed read it four times already, and he still wasnt tired of it. It reaffirmed for him the purpose of his being there, on an iron bench, in an iron cell. Every time he felt the futility of his work for the NAACP, hed finger the well-worn pages, and it would strengthen his resolve. This is how classics of this calibre work their way into the literary bloodstream.
We look to the past for consolation and inspiration. Dubois’ service is therefore one to humanity, only one part of which is the literature that is read for its own sake and sometimes even as agitation. Combining the force of his rhetoric with the justice of his cause, DuBois nobly reminds some of us cloistered in the ivory towers just how dark things used to be out there, and invites us to take a peek yet once again, even if itmeans having to step down and lose a peak of another kind. MLK, BLM…History seems to have a penchant forword-play just as it does rhyme.
Read the full post at The Guardian
