Editing W. E. B. Du Bois (section)

==Atlanta University==
In July 1897, Du Bois left Philadelphia and took a professorship in history and economics at the historically black [[Atlanta University]] in Georgia.<ref>Horne, p. 26.</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=143, 155}}.</ref> His first major academic work was his book ''The Philadelphia Negro'' (1899), a detailed and comprehensive sociological study of the African-American people of Philadelphia, based on his fieldwork in 1896–1897. This breakthrough in scholarship was the first scientific study of African Americans and a major contribution to early scientific sociology in the U.S.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lange|first1=Werner J.|title=W. E. B. Du Bois and the First Scientific Study of Afro-America|journal=Phylon|date=1983|volume=44|issue=2|pages=135–146|doi=10.2307/275025|quote=[T]he pioneering studies of African cultures and Afro-American realities and history initiated by W. E. B. Du Bois from 1894 until 1915 stand not only as the first studies of black people on a firm scientific basis altogether{{snd}}whether classified among the social or historical sciences{{snd}}but they also represent the earliest ethnographies of Afro-America as well as a major contribution to the earliest corpus of social scientific literature from the United States.|jstor=275025}}</ref><ref>Donaldson, Shawn, "The Philadelphia Negro", in Young, p. 165. "''The Philadelphia Negro'' stands as a classic in both (urban) sociology and African American studies because it was the first scientific study of the Negro and the first scientific sociological study in the United States".</ref>

Du Bois coined the phrase "the submerged tenth" to describe the black underclass in the study. Later in 1903, he popularized the term, the "[[talented tenth]]", applied to society's elite class. His terminology reflected his opinion that the elite of a nation, both black and white, were critical to achievements in culture and progress.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=148}}.</ref> During this period, he wrote dismissively of the underclass, describing them as "lazy" or "unreliable", but – in contrast to other scholars – he attributed many of their societal problems to the ravages of slavery.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=140, 148 (underclass), 141 (slavery)}}.</ref>

Du Bois's output at Atlanta University was prodigious, despite a limited budget: he produced numerous social science papers and annually hosted the [[Atlanta Conference of Negro Problems]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=158–160 }}</ref> He also received grants from the U.S. government to prepare reports about African-American workforce and culture.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=161, 235 (Department of Labor); p. 141 (Bureau of Labor Statistics)}}.</ref> His students considered him to be a brilliant teacher, but aloof and strict.<ref name="auto">Lewis, p. 157.</ref>

===First Pan-African Conference===
Du Bois attended the [[First Pan-African Conference]], held in [[London]] on July 23–25, 1900.<ref>Bandele, Ramla, [http://diaspora.northwestern.edu/mbin/WebObjects/DiasporaX.woa/wa/displayArticle?atomid=461 "Pan-African Conference in 1900:  Origins of the movement for global black unity"], Article #461, ''Global Mappings: A political Atlas of the African Diaspora, 1900–1989'', The Institute for Diasporic Studies, Northwestern University. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922122851/http://diaspora.northwestern.edu/mbin/WebObjects/DiasporaX.woa/wa/displayArticle?atomid=461|date=September 22, 2013}}.</ref>The Conference had been organized by people from the Caribbean: Haitians [[Anténor Firmin]] and [[Benito Sylvain]] and [[Trinidad and Tobago|Trinidadian]] barrister [[Henry Sylvester Williams]].<ref>[http://www.newint.org/features/2000/08/05/simply/ "A history of Pan-Africanism"], ''New Internationalist'', 326, August 2000.</ref> Du Bois closed the conference by delivering a speech entitled "To the Nations of the World", in which he asked European leaders to ensure [[equal opportunity]] for all races, allow their colonies the right to [[self-government]], and to recognise the political and human rights of African Americans.<ref>[http://www.blackpast.org/?q=1900-w-e-b-du-bois-nations-world "(1900) W. E. B. Du Bois, 'To the Nations of the World'"], BlackPast.org.</ref> This came amidst a period in which southern states were passing legislation to effectively [[Disfranchisement after the Reconstruction era|prevent African Americans from voting]], an exclusion from the political system that lasted [[Voting Rights Act of 1965|until the 1960s]].

After the conference, delegates unanimously adopted "To the Nations of the World", and sent copies of the speech to heads of state who governed large populations of African descent that suffered oppression.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sivagurunathan |first1=Shivani |editor1-last=Dabydeen |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Gilmore |editor2-first=John |editor3-last=Jones |editor3-first=Cecily |title=The Oxford Companion to Black British History |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-923894-1 |pages=359–361 |access-date=14 February 2025 |chapter=Pan-Africanism|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000unse_d1y4/page/n9/mode/2up}}</ref> The text appealed for "[acknowledgment] and [protection of] the rights of people of African descent" from the United States and imperial European nations, and the recognition of "the free Negro States of [[Ethiopian Empire|Abyssinia]], [[Liberia]], [[Haiti]], etc."<ref>[http://www.blackpast.org/?q=perspectives/pan-african-congresses-1900-1945 The Pan-African Congresses, 1900–1945], BlackPast.org.</ref> It was signed by Bishop [[Alexander Walters]] (President of the [[Pan-African Association]]), Rev. Henry B. Brown (vice-president), [[Henry Sylvester Williams]] (General Secretary) and Du Bois (chairman of the committee on the Address).<ref>[http://www.houseofknowledge.org.uk/site/documents/neoGarveyismCorner/1900%20Conference%20resolution.pdf 1900 Pan-African Conference Resolution] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304232631/http://www.houseofknowledge.org.uk/site/documents/neoGarveyismCorner/1900%20Conference%20resolution.pdf |date=March 4, 2016 }}. (PDF) Source: Ayodele Langley, ''Ideologies of Liberation in Black Africa'', London: [[Rex Collings]], 1979, pp. 738–739.</ref> Du Bois included the statement "the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the [[Color line (racism)|colour-line]]" in the speech, a phrase that he would use again in the introduction of the book ''The Souls of Black Folk''.<ref>Edwards, Brent Hayes (2009), [https://books.google.com/books?id=3D9FE-UfYxEC&dq=%22The+problem+of+the+Twentieth+Century+is+the+problem+of+the+colour-line%22+souls&pg=PA33 "The Practice of Diaspora"], in Janice A. Radway, Kevin Gaines, Barry Shank, [[Penny Von Eschen]] (eds), ''American Studies: An Anthology'', Wiley-Blackwell, p. 33.</ref>

===1900 Paris Exposition===
{{main|The Exhibit of American Negroes}}
Du Bois was the primary organizer of ''The Exhibit of American Negroes'' at the [[Exposition Universelle (1900)|1900 Paris Exposition]], held between April and November 1900, for which he compiled a series of 363 photographs aiming to commemorate the lives of African Americans at the turn of the century and challenge the racist caricatures and stereotypes of the day.<ref>Lewis, David Levering, "A Small Nation of People: W.E.B. Du Bois and Black Americans at the Turn of the Twentieth Century", ''A Small Nation of People: W. E. B. Du Bois and African American Portraits of Progress''. New York: Amistad, 2003. pp. 24–49.</ref><ref name=loc>[https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/anedub/dubois.html "African American Photographs Assembled for 1900 Paris Exposition"], Library of Congress.</ref> Du Bois aimed to display changes to the living conditions of African Americans during the 18th and 19th centuries, while also demonstrating the advancement of education and literature within the community.<ref name=dataportraits>{{cite book|editor1=The W.E.B. Du Bois Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst|editor-last2=Battle-Baptiste|editor-first2=Whitney|editor-link2=Whitney Battle-Baptiste|editor-last3=Rusert|editor-first3=Britt|title=W.E.B. Du Bois's data portraits: visualizing Black America: the color line at the turn of the twentieth century |date=2018 |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |location=New York |isbn=9781616897772 |pages=7–11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zft0DwAAQBAJ |access-date=5 February 2025}}</ref> Included were charts, graphs, and maps, which displayed economic, demographic, and sociological data relating to the contemporary and historic living conditions of African Americans, as well as their scientific and cultural achievements.<ref name="dataportraits"/><ref>{{Cite web|last=Mansky|first=Jackie|title=W.E.B. Du Bois' Visionary Infographics Come Together for the First Time in Full Color|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/first-time-together-and-color-book-displays-web-du-bois-visionary-infographics-180970826/|date=November 15, 2018|access-date= August 25, 2020|website=Smithsonian Magazine}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bruce |first1=Marcus |editor1-last=Keaton |editor1-first=Trica Danielle |editor2-last=Sharpley-Whiting |editor2-first=Tracey Denean |editor3-last=Stovall |editor3-first=Tyler |title=Black France / France Noire |date=2012 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=New York, USA |isbn=978-0-8223-9534-8 |pages=207–211 |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822395348-014 |access-date=5 February 2025 |chapter=The New Negro in Paris: Booker T. Washington, the New Negro, and the Paris Exposition of 1900|doi=10.1515/9780822395348-014 }}</ref> He was awarded a gold medal for his role as compiler of the materials, which are housed at the [[Library of Congress]].<ref name=loc/>

===Booker T. Washington and the Atlanta Compromise===
In the first decade of the new century, Du Bois emerged as a spokesperson for his race, second only to [[Booker T. Washington]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=161}}.</ref> Washington was the director of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and wielded tremendous influence within the African-American and white communities.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=179–180, 189}}.</ref> Washington was the architect of the [[Atlanta Compromise]], an unwritten deal that he had struck in 1895 with Southern white leaders who dominated state governments after Reconstruction. Essentially the agreement provided that Southern blacks, who overwhelmingly lived in rural communities, would submit to the current discrimination, segregation, [[Disfranchisement after the Reconstruction era|disenfranchisement]], and non-unionized employment; that Southern whites would permit blacks to receive a basic education, some economic opportunities, and justice within the legal system; and that Northern whites would invest in Southern enterprises and fund black educational charities.<ref>Harlan, Louis R. (2006), "A Black Leader in the Age of Jim Crow", in ''The Racial Politics of Booker T. Washington'', Donald Cunnigen, Rutledge M. Dennis, Myrtle Gonza Glascoe (eds), Emerald Group Publishing, p. 26.</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=180–181}}.</ref><ref>Logan, Rayford Whittingham (1997), ''The Betrayal of the Negro, from Rutherford B. Hayes to Woodrow Wilson'', Da Capo Press, pp. 275–313.</ref>

Despite sending congratulations to Washington for his [[Atlanta Exposition Speech]],<ref>{{citation|last=Harlan|first=Louis R.|title=Booker T. Washington: The Making of a Black Leader, 1856–1901|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|page=225|place=New York|year=1972|quote=Let me heartily congratulate you upon your phenomenal success at Atlanta{{snd}}it was a word fitly spoken.}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/core/content/letter-web-du-bois-booker-t-washington-september-24-1895|title=Letter from W.E.B. Du Bois to Booker T. Washington, September 24, 1895|work=The Core Curriculum|publisher=[[Columbia College, Columbia University]]|access-date=February 28, 2016}}</ref> Du Bois later came to oppose Washington's plan, along with many other African Americans, including [[Archibald Grimké|Archibald H. Grimke]], [[Kelly Miller (scientist)|Kelly Miller]], [[James Weldon Johnson]], and [[Paul Laurence Dunbar]] – representatives of the class of educated blacks that Du Bois later called the "[[talented tenth]]".<ref>Harlan, Louis R. (1986), ''Booker T. Washington: the wizard of Tuskegee, 1901–1915'', Oxford University Press, pp. 71–120.</ref><ref>Croce, Paul, "Accommodation versus Struggle", in Young, pp. 1–3. Du Bois popularized the term "talented tenth" in a 1903 essay, but he was not the first to use it.</ref> Du Bois felt that African Americans should fight for equal rights and higher opportunities, rather than passively submit to the segregation and discrimination of Washington's Atlanta Compromise.<ref>Croce, Paul, "Accommodation versus Struggle", in Young, pp. 1–3.</ref>

Du Bois was inspired to greater activism by the [[lynching of Sam Hose]], which occurred near Atlanta in 1899.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=162}}.</ref> Hose was tortured, burned, and hanged by a mob of two thousand whites. When walking through Atlanta to discuss the lynching with newspaper editor [[Joel Chandler Harris]], Du Bois encountered Hose's burned knuckles in a storefront display. The episode stunned Du Bois, and he resolved that "one could not be a calm, cool, and detached scientist while Negroes were lynched, murdered, and starved". Du Bois realized that "the cure wasn't simply telling people the truth, it was inducing them to act on the truth".<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=162–3, Du Bois quoted by Lewis}}.</ref>

[[File:WEB Du Bois.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=A formally dressed African American man, sitting for a posed portrait|Du Bois in 1904]]

In 1901, Du Bois wrote a review critical of Washington's autobiography ''[[Up from Slavery]]'',<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=184}}.</ref> which he later expanded and published to a wider audience as the essay "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others" in ''[[The Souls of Black Folk]]''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=199–200}}.</ref> Later in life, Du Bois regretted having been critical of Washington in those essays.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=711}}.</ref> One of the contrasts between the two leaders was their approach to education: Washington felt that African-American schools should focus primarily on [[Vocational education|industrial education topics]] such as agricultural and mechanical skills, to prepare southern blacks for the opportunities in the rural areas where most lived.<ref>Lomotey, pp. 354–355.</ref> Du Bois felt that black schools should focus more on [[liberal arts]] and academic curriculum (including the classics, arts, and humanities), because liberal arts were required to develop a leadership elite.<ref>Lomotey, pp. 355–356.</ref>

However, as sociologist [[E. Franklin Frazier]] and economists [[Gunnar Myrdal]] and [[Thomas Sowell]] have argued, such disagreement over education was a minor point of difference between Washington and Du Bois; both men acknowledged the importance of the form of education that the other emphasized.<ref>{{cite book|last=Frazier|first=Edward Franklin|year=1957|title=The Negro in the United States|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan Company]]|location=New York|page=459}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Myrdal|first1=Gunnar|last2=Rose|first2=Arnold M.|year=1964|title=An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and American Democracy, Volume 2|publisher=[[McGraw-Hill Education|McGraw-Hill]]|location=New York|page=889|title-link=An American Dilemma}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Sowell|first=Thomas|title=Black Rednecks and White Liberals|chapter=Black Education: Achievements, Myths and Tragedies|publisher=Encounter Books|place=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/blackredneckswhi00thom/page/231 231–235]|isbn=978-1-59403-086-4|title-link=Black Rednecks and White Liberals|year=2005}}</ref> Sowell has also argued that, despite genuine disagreements between the two leaders, the supposed animosity between Washington and Du Bois actually formed among their followers, not between Washington and Du Bois themselves.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sowell|first1=Thomas|author-link1=Thomas Sowell|title=Ethnic America: A History|publisher=[[Basic Books]]|place=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/ethnicamericahis00thom/page/208 208]|year=1981|isbn=978-0465020751|url=https://archive.org/details/ethnicamericahis00thom/page/208}}</ref> Du Bois also made this observation in an interview published in ''[[The Atlantic|The Atlantic Monthly]]'' in November 1965.<ref>{{cite interview|last=Du Bois|first=W. E. B.|interviewer=[[Ralph McGill]]|title=W.E.B. Du Bois|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/flashbks/black/mcgillbh.htm|access-date=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210101232/https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/flashbks/black/mcgillbh.htm|archive-date=December 10, 2020|url-status=dead|work=[[The Atlantic|The Atlantic Monthly]]|issue=5|date=November 1965|pages=78–81|quote='The controversy,' [Du Bois] said, 'developed more between our followers than between us ... '|volume=216}}</ref>

===Niagara Movement===
{{main|Niagara Movement}}

[[File:Niagara movement meeting in Fort Erie, Canada, 1905.jpg|upright|thumb|alt=A dozen African American men seated with Niagara Falls in the background|right|Founders of the [[Niagara Movement]] in 1905. Du Bois is in the middle row, with white hat.]]

In 1905, Du Bois and several other African-American civil rights activists&nbsp;– including [[Fredrick McGhee]], [[Max Barber]] and [[William Monroe Trotter]] – met in Canada, near [[Niagara Falls]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=215–216}}.</ref> where they wrote a declaration of principles opposing the Atlanta Compromise, and which were incorporated as the [[Niagara Movement]] in 1906.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Niagara Movement |first=W.E.B. |last=DuBois |authorlink=W.E.B. DuBois |journal=[[Voice of the Negro]] |series=Negro periodicals in the United States |date=September 1905 |pages=619–622 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x000492470&view=2up&seq=627&size=150&q1=Dubois}}</ref> They wanted to publicize their ideals to other African Americans, but most black periodicals were owned by publishers sympathetic to Washington, so Du Bois bought a printing press and started publishing ''Moon Illustrated Weekly'' in December 1905.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=218–219}}.</ref> It was the first African-American illustrated weekly, and Du Bois used it to attack Washington's positions, but the magazine lasted only for about eight months.<ref name="Lewis220">Lewis, p. 220.</ref> Du Bois soon founded and edited another vehicle for his polemics, ''[[The Horizon: A Journal of the Color Line]]'', which debuted in 1907. [[Freeman H. M. Murray]] and [[Lafayette M. Hershaw]] served as ''The Horizon'''s co-editors.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=227–228}}. ''The Horizon'' lasted until 1910 when he developed ''The Crisis'' for publication as an instrument of the NAACP.</ref>

The Niagarites held a second conference in August 1906, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of abolitionist [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]]'s birth, at the West Virginia site of Brown's [[John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry|raid on Harper's Ferry]].<ref name="Lewis220"/> [[Reverdy C. Ransom]] spoke, explaining that Washington's primary goal was to prepare blacks for employment in their current society: "Today, two classes of Negroes ...are standing at the parting of the ways. The one counsels patient submission to our present humiliations and degradations ... The other class believe that it should not submit to being humiliated, degraded, and remanded to an inferior place. ...[I]t does not believe in bartering its manhood for the sake of gain."<ref>Ransom, quoted by {{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=222}}.</ref>

===''The Souls of Black Folk''===
{{Main|The Souls of Black Folk}}

In an effort to portray the genius and humanity of the black race, Du Bois published ''The Souls of Black Folk'' (1903), a collection of 14 essays.<ref name="Gibson, Todd p. 198">Gibson, Todd, "The Souls of Black Folk", in Young, p. 198.</ref><ref name="Lewis, p. 191">{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=191}}.</ref> James Weldon Johnson said the book's effect on African Americans was comparable to that of ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]''.<ref name="Lewis, p. 191"/> The introduction famously proclaimed that "the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line".<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=192}}. Du Bois quoted by Lewis.</ref> Each chapter begins with two epigraphs – one from a white poet, and one from a black spiritual – to demonstrate intellectual and cultural parity between black and white cultures.<ref name="Gibson, Todd p. 198"/>

A major theme of the work was the [[double consciousness]] faced by African Americans: being both American and black. This was a unique identity which, according to Du Bois, had been a handicap in the past, but could be a strength in the future: "Henceforth, the destiny of the race could be conceived as leading neither to assimilation nor separatism but to proud, enduring hyphenation."<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=194–195}}.</ref>  A major theme in the book is [[the Negro problem]],  which Du Bois raised in the first page, asking "How does it feel to be a problem?" Du Bois's response was an early example of [[racial uplift]] ideology, where black activists responded to racism with assertive, positive leadership.<ref name=Gaines>
{{cite web
| url=https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1865-1917/essays/racialuplift.htm
|title=Racial Uplift Ideology in the Era of "the Negro Problem"
|first= Kevin K.
|last= Gaines
|publisher= National Humanities Center.
|access-date=May 3, 2025
}}
</ref>{{efn|Jonathon S. Kahn in ''Divine Discontent: The Religious Imagination of Du Bois'' shows how Du Bois, in his ''The Souls of Black Folk'', represents an exemplary text of pragmatic [[religious naturalism]]. On page 12, Kahn writes: "Du Bois needs to be understood as an African American pragmatic religious naturalist. By this I mean that, like Du Bois the American traditional pragmatic religious naturalism, which runs through [[William James]], [[George Santayana]], and [[John Dewey]], seeks religion without [[Metaphysics|metaphysical]] foundations." Kahn's interpretation of religious naturalism is very broad but he relates it to specific thinkers. Du Bois's anti-metaphysical viewpoint places him in the sphere of religious naturalism as typified by William James and others.<ref name="Kahn">Kahn, Jonathon S. (2009), [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTv6iq5fpqcC&dq=W.+E.+B.+Du+Bois%2Creligious+naturalism&pg=PA13 ''Divine Discontent: The Religious Imagination of W. E. B. Du Bois''], Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-530789-4}}.</ref>}}

===Racial violence===
Two calamities in the autumn of 1906 shocked African Americans, and they contributed to strengthening support for Du Bois's struggle for civil rights to prevail over Booker T. Washington's accommodationist [[Atlanta Compromise]]. First, President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] dishonorably discharged 167 [[Buffalo Soldier]]s because they were accused of crimes as a result of the [[Brownsville affair]]. Many of the discharged soldiers had served for 20 years and were near retirement.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=223}}.</ref> Second, in September, [[Atlanta Race Riot|riots broke out in Atlanta]], precipitated by unfounded allegations of black men assaulting white women. This was a catalyst for racial tensions based on a job shortage and employers playing black workers against white workers.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=224}}.</ref> Ten thousand whites rampaged through Atlanta, beating every black person they could find, resulting in over 25 deaths.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=224–225}}.</ref> In the aftermath of the 1906 violence, Du Bois urged blacks to withdraw their support from the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], because Republicans Roosevelt and [[William Howard Taft]] did not sufficiently support blacks. Most African Americans had been loyal to the Republican Party since the time of [[Abraham Lincoln]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=229}}.</ref> Du Bois endorsed Taft's rival [[William Jennings Bryan]] in the [[1908 United States presidential election|1908 presidential election]] despite Bryan's acceptance of segregation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Farris|first=Scott|url=http://archive.org/details/almostpresidentm0000farr|title=Almost president : the men who lost the race but changed the nation|date=2012|publisher=Lyons Press|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-7627-6378-8|location=Guilford, CN|pages=87}}</ref>

Du Bois wrote the essay, "A Litany at Atlanta", which asserted that the riot demonstrated that the Atlanta Compromise was a failure. Despite upholding their end of the bargain, blacks had failed to receive legal justice in the South. Historian David Levering Lewis has written that the Compromise no longer held because white patrician planters, who took a paternalistic role, had been replaced by aggressive businessmen who were willing to pit blacks against whites.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=2226}}.</ref> These two calamities were watershed events for the African American community, marking the ascendancy of Du Bois's vision of equal rights.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=223–224, 230}}.</ref>

===Academic work===
{{quote box
|quote = Once we were told: Be worthy and fit and the ways are open. Today, the avenues of advancement in the army, navy, civil service, and even business and professional life are continually closed to black applicants of proven fitness, simply on the bald excuse of race and color.
|source=—Du Bois, "Address at Fourth Niagara Conference", 1908<ref>Quoted by {{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=230}}. Conference was in Oberlin, Ohio.</ref>
|align = right
|width = 30em
|fontsize = 90%
|bgcolor = #F0F0F0
}}

In addition to writing editorials, Du Bois continued to produce scholarly work at Atlanta University. In 1909, after five years of effort, he published a biography of abolitionist John Brown. It contained many insights, but also contained some factual errors.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=238}}.</ref><ref>VendeCreek, Drew, "John Brown", in Young, pp. 32–33.</ref> The work was strongly criticized by ''[[The Nation]]'', which was owned by [[Oswald Garrison Villard]], who was writing his own, competing biography of John Brown. Possibly as a result, Du Bois's work was largely ignored by white scholars.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=240}}.</ref> After publishing a piece in ''[[Collier's]]'' magazine warning of the end of "[[white supremacy]]", Du Bois had difficulty getting pieces accepted by major periodicals, although he did continue to publish columns regularly in ''The Horizon'' magazine.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=244 (Colliers); p. 249 (Horizon)}}.</ref>

Du Bois was the first African American invited by the [[American Historical Association]] (AHA) to present a paper at their annual conference. He read his paper, ''Reconstruction and Its Benefits,'' to an astounded audience at the AHA's December 1909 conference.<ref name=Lewis250>Lewis, p. 250.</ref> The paper went against the mainstream historical view, promoted by the [[Dunning School]] of scholars at [[Columbia University]], that [[Reconstruction Era of the United States|Reconstruction]] was a disaster, caused by the ineptitude and sloth of blacks. To the contrary, Du Bois asserted that the brief period of African-American leadership in the South accomplished three important goals: democracy, free public schools, and new social welfare legislation.<ref name=Lewis251>Lewis, p. 251.</ref>

Du Bois asserted that it was the federal government's failure to manage the [[Freedmen's Bureau]], to distribute land, and to establish an educational system, that doomed African-American prospects in the South.<ref name=Lewis251/> When Du Bois submitted the paper for publication a few months later in ''[[The American Historical Review]]'', he asked that the word 'Negro' be capitalized. The editor, [[J. Franklin Jameson]], refused and published the paper without the capitalization.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=252}}.</ref> The paper was mostly ignored by white historians.<ref name="Lewis251"/> Du Bois later developed his paper as his 1935 book, ''[[Black Reconstruction in America]],'' which marshaled extensive references to support his assertions.<ref name=Lewis250/> The AHA did not invite another African-American speaker until 1940.<ref>Lewis, David Levering, "Beyond Exclusivity: Writing Race, Class, Gender into U.S. History", date unknown, New York University, Silver Dialogues series.</ref>