In recognition of Black History month, our reading will be selected essays from W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk. A scholar, writer, and activist, Du Bois (1868-1963) is among the most influential African-Americans in U.S. history and The Souls of Black Folk, published in 1903, is an American classic. The fourteen essays comprising The Souls of Black Folk range over a variety of topics and issues in the history of Black American culture and experience down to the early years of the 20th century. Du Bois’s writing in these essays is highly literary and often deeply personal. We’ll read for discussion seven of the essays: “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” “Of the Dawn of Freedom,” “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others,” “Of the Meaning of Progress,” “Of the Faith of the Fathers,” “Of the Passing of the First-Born,” and “Of the Coming of John.” The Souls of Black Folk is published in an inexpensive Dover Thrift edition and in several other paperback editions. It’s also available as a pdf document.