“Our vastest social problem” W.E.B. Du Bois called racial bigotry in The Souls of Black Folk. He also called on white readers to ponder what it’s like to be deemed a “problem” by mainstream society. Part sociology, part history, part poem, Du Bois’ 1903 essay collection influenced African American thought and action throughout the 20th century and remains relevant today, essayist Vann R. Newkirk II stresses in his introduction to the new paperback edition. Du Bois’ anger and injustice was expressed with elegant forcefulness; his opening line from Chapter II, “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line,” was a prophesy still pertinent in the new millennium.
