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The Philadelphia Negro
W. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. Du Bois's sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Du Bois was also a prolific author of novels, autobiographical accounts, innumerable editorials and journalistic pieces, and several works of history.
First published in 1899 at the dawn of sociology, The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study is a landmark in empirical sociological research. Du Bois was the first sociologist to document the living circumstances of urban Black Americans. The Philadelphia Negro provides a framework for studying black communities, and it has steadily grown in importance since its original publication. Today, it is an indispensable model for sociologists, historians, political scientists, anthropologists, educators, philosophers, and urban studies scholars. With a series introduction by editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and an introduction by Lawrence Bobo, this edition is essential for anyone interested in African American history and sociology.
First published in 1899 at the dawn of sociology, The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study is a landmark in empirical sociological research. Du Bois was the first sociologist to document the living circumstances of urban Black Americans. The Philadelphia Negro provides a framework for studying black communities, and it has steadily grown in importance since its original publication. Today, it is an indispensable model for sociologists, historians, political scientists, anthropologists, educators, philosophers, and urban studies scholars. With a series introduction by editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and an introduction by Lawrence Bobo, this edition is essential for anyone interested in African American history and sociology.
364 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1899
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About the author
W.E.B. Du Bois
607 books1,486 followersIn 1868, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (pronounced 'doo-boyz') was born in Massachusetts. He attended Fisk College in Nashville, then earned his BA in 1890 and his MS in 1891 from Harvard. Du Bois studied at the University of Berlin, then earned his doctorate in history from Harvard in 1894. He taught economics and history at Atlanta University from 1897-1910. The Souls of Black Folk (1903) made his name, in which he urged black Americans to stand up for their educational and economic rights. Du Bois was a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and edited the NAACP's official journal, "Crisis," from 1910 to 1934. Du Bois turned "Crisis" into the foremost black literary journal. The black nationalist expanded his interests to global concerns, and is called the "father of Pan-Africanism" for organizing international black congresses.
Although he used some religious metaphor and expressions in some of his books and writings, Du Bois called himself a freethinker. In "On Christianity," a posthumously published essay, Du Bois critiqued the black church: "The theology of the average colored church is basing itself far too much upon 'Hell and Damnation'—upon an attempt to scare people into being decent and threatening them with the terrors of death and punishment. We are still trained to believe a good deal that is simply childish in theology. The outward and visible punishment of every wrong deed that men do, the repeated declaration that anything can be gotten by anyone at any time by prayer." Du Bois became a member of the Communist Party and officially repudiated his U.S. citizenship at the end of his life, dying in his adopted country of Ghana. D. 1963.
More: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...
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Although he used some religious metaphor and expressions in some of his books and writings, Du Bois called himself a freethinker. In "On Christianity," a posthumously published essay, Du Bois critiqued the black church: "The theology of the average colored church is basing itself far too much upon 'Hell and Damnation'—upon an attempt to scare people into being decent and threatening them with the terrors of death and punishment. We are still trained to believe a good deal that is simply childish in theology. The outward and visible punishment of every wrong deed that men do, the repeated declaration that anything can be gotten by anyone at any time by prayer." Du Bois became a member of the Communist Party and officially repudiated his U.S. citizenship at the end of his life, dying in his adopted country of Ghana. D. 1963.
More: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stori...
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0his...
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/dub...
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May 26, 2014
DuBois is unquestionably the father of modern Sociology, the more of this I read, the angrier I became that this is not universally recognized. This book is extraordinary. It doesn’t escape all of the faults of its time (this was published in 1899!), but the level of rigorous scholarship and its depth of insight floored me just a bit. What also floored me was how very little things have changed, and that was heartbreaking. But the key to why DuBois is not a larger figure in Sociology as a whole, rather than Black studies is here: the incredibly insulting terms under which he was given the work of producing this volume at all:
His understanding of race as not being monolithic, and his humor:
His understanding of the connections between slavery and oppression of all workers:
There is a lovely history of African Americans in Philly, what most caught my attentions was the early organizing of the Free African Society in 1787 by Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, which resulted after a split in Allen forming the African Methodist Episcopal Church of America, or A.M.E., first African-American Church in America and such a pivotal part of every African-American community across the country.
DuBois covers the hope inspired by the Haitian Revolution, the rise of multiple white mobs leading to an actual decrease of African Americans in the city between 1840 and 1850. The rise of the highly paid chefs and caterers, who catered to the very cream of Philadelphian Society and earned good wages until the fashion shifted towards European cuisine, exiling African Americans from the field all together. His detailed maps and house-by-house questionnaires cataloguing occupant details, personal observations, interviews as he knocked on each and every single door in the 7th ward. The maps were particularly interesting as they are based upon the Booth maps, detailing poverty in London in the mid-1800s and using the same moral categories, with the bottom being the vicious and criminal poor.
Having just read William Julius Wilson, it was fascinating to encounter similar findings 80 years apart – and much the same moralizing tone – in noting the high number of women widowed, separated ‘indicating economic stress, a high death rate and lax morality’ (70), and a tendency to late marriages. Like Wilson, DuBois would find that improved employment opportunities would solve almost all ills. He presents an extensive and detailed study of work, with the methodological note:
Under male occupations there were some interesting things on the list: huckster listed under entrepreneur, and what is a kalsominer? Paper Hanger, Oyster Opener. Under the occupations for the ladies, he has “politicians” in quotes (2), Root Doctors (2) and a Prize fighter! But only one. Prostitutes are also hidden away in a much bigger table for the whole city, but no pimps—although he describes their existence. Maybe they fall under hucksters? What is most clear is how African Americans were systematically shut out of manufacturing and better paid higher status jobs. DuBois is smart enough to note not just the losses of income here, but the impossibility of accumulating wealth. The ways that wages are driven down:
He doesn't explore this, but mentions the possibility that such occupational segregation is as much caused by racism as it then in turn causes it to deepen.
He notes the existence of ‘the curious prejudice of whites’, their dislike, for example, of being buried near Negroes. He gives the story of the funeral procession of caterer Henry Jones being turned back from the cemetery gates (121). But above all, he sees it as economic:
Unions – ‘white’ sometimes actually inserted as one of the qualifications, but more generally informally maintained. To come to grips with the problems of the 7th ward, however, is above all providing employment:
There is a chapter on health, noting high incidence of disease and sufferance, high death rates, particularly in comparison to other groups. He rarely loses his sustained sarcasm:
There is this startling pronouncement on the social nature of crime and on crime as rebellion that precedes and frames a chapter which in other ways sometimes seems to fall back on a more moral reading more palatable to his employers:
The chapter on crime is sandwiched between this identification of employment as the primary issue and then telling lists of severe economic hardship house by house, room by room. This is followed by lists of individual’s efforts to educate themselves and failing, to find jobs and failing.
He notes that African Americans ‘are in the economic world purveyors to the rich’ (296), which forces them to live close, in central areas of the city where rents are higher, and there he pays more for house-rent than any other group. For those venturing outside of certain areas:
While within African American areas:
He states his optimism that this is changing. Sadness.
He notes the social distinctions between those born in Philly and those arrived from the South, with many migrants trying to hide their origins. Unlike many other coming after him who idealized the original ghetto with its mixture of classes, he also describes the distance between the better classes and the rest despite physical proximity:
He also describes the ways in which class intersects with a racial hierarchy that puts Anglo-Saxon on the top, this white privilege is extended with some ‘reluctance’ to the Slav and Celt. ‘We half deny it to the yellow races of Asia, admit the brown Indian to an ante-room…with the Negroes of Africa we come to a full stop’ (387). And within the Negroes, there are distinctions as well, of the ‘better’ classes he writes:
So much contained in that one sentence: the remnants of slavery, the higher social class/caste belonging to lighter skin, the history of rape.
There is a brilliant section on voter fraud. DuBois has some strange ideas about capitalists, the wealthy, the employers being of a better, more intelligent class more suited to improve society. He flirts with the idea of a benevolent dictatorship to solve some of these problems. Part of me thinks he is playing his white funders just a little here, but he might not be. He certainly became more and more radical over time. But here, he seems to be advocating limiting the right to vote to the ‘worthy’ due to the corruption of machine politics. There is a great transcript of a trial quoted at length, my favourite part:
At the same time, I think DuBois has a somewhat realistic and practical view of why his people might be in favour of machine politics, noting that they do offer some positions allowing African Americans to advance. These are better than none. The challenge is certainly to the reformers, who he fairly outrightly labels as racists, to prove their reforms will be of benefit. In his conclusions he writes:
And this is what I think he believed could lie ahead. The report ends on an optimistic note, but given its nature as a study leading to policy recommendations to help solve ‘the Negro problem’ (and I love how this entire book reframes it as a white problem) it does end on a hopeful note.
Also included is another study: ‘Special Report on Negro Domestic Service in the 7th Ward’ by Isabel Eaton. It made me think of Angela Davis’s work on this solidarity sometimes shared between abolitionist figures and early feminists and suffragettes who came together on the margins. Unlike DuBois’s work it doesn’t really get down to much of the lived experience of domestic workers, but is an invaluable data source on a subject too much ignored…the work of Black women.
At the University of Pennsylvania I ignored the pitiful stipend. It made no difference to me that I was put down as an “assistant instructor” and even at that, that my name never actually got into the catalogue; it goes without saying that I did no instructing save once to pilot a pack of idiots through the Negro slums (xvi, quoting Dusk of Dawn, pp 58-59)
His understanding of race as not being monolithic, and his humor:
I shall throughout this study use the term “Negro,” to designate all persons of Negro descent, although the appellation is to some extent illogical. I shall, moreover, capitalize the word, because I believe that eight million Americans are entitled to a capital letter (footnote 1, p 1).
His understanding of the connections between slavery and oppression of all workers:
Very early in the history of the colony the presence of unpaid slaves for life greatly disturbed the economic condition of free laborers (14).
There is a lovely history of African Americans in Philly, what most caught my attentions was the early organizing of the Free African Society in 1787 by Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, which resulted after a split in Allen forming the African Methodist Episcopal Church of America, or A.M.E., first African-American Church in America and such a pivotal part of every African-American community across the country.
DuBois covers the hope inspired by the Haitian Revolution, the rise of multiple white mobs leading to an actual decrease of African Americans in the city between 1840 and 1850. The rise of the highly paid chefs and caterers, who catered to the very cream of Philadelphian Society and earned good wages until the fashion shifted towards European cuisine, exiling African Americans from the field all together. His detailed maps and house-by-house questionnaires cataloguing occupant details, personal observations, interviews as he knocked on each and every single door in the 7th ward. The maps were particularly interesting as they are based upon the Booth maps, detailing poverty in London in the mid-1800s and using the same moral categories, with the bottom being the vicious and criminal poor.
Having just read William Julius Wilson, it was fascinating to encounter similar findings 80 years apart – and much the same moralizing tone – in noting the high number of women widowed, separated ‘indicating economic stress, a high death rate and lax morality’ (70), and a tendency to late marriages. Like Wilson, DuBois would find that improved employment opportunities would solve almost all ills. He presents an extensive and detailed study of work, with the methodological note:
There was in the first place little room for deception, since the occupations of Negroes are so limited that a false or indefinite answer was easily revealed by a little judicious probing; moreover there was little disposition to deceive, for the Negroes are very anxious to have their limited opportunities for employment known… (Footnote 1, p 97)
Under male occupations there were some interesting things on the list: huckster listed under entrepreneur, and what is a kalsominer? Paper Hanger, Oyster Opener. Under the occupations for the ladies, he has “politicians” in quotes (2), Root Doctors (2) and a Prize fighter! But only one. Prostitutes are also hidden away in a much bigger table for the whole city, but no pimps—although he describes their existence. Maybe they fall under hucksters? What is most clear is how African Americans were systematically shut out of manufacturing and better paid higher status jobs. DuBois is smart enough to note not just the losses of income here, but the impossibility of accumulating wealth. The ways that wages are driven down:
To appreciate the cause of low wages, we have only to see the few occupations to which the Negroes are practically limited, and imagine the competition that must ensue. This is true among the men, and especially true among the women, where the limitation is greatest… their chances of marriage are decreased by the low wages of the men… (110)
He doesn't explore this, but mentions the possibility that such occupational segregation is as much caused by racism as it then in turn causes it to deepen.
The peculiar distribution of employments among whites and Negroes makes the great middle class of white people seldom, if ever, brought into contact with Negroes—may not this be a cause as well as an effect if prejudice? (111)
He notes the existence of ‘the curious prejudice of whites’, their dislike, for example, of being buried near Negroes. He gives the story of the funeral procession of caterer Henry Jones being turned back from the cemetery gates (121). But above all, he sees it as economic:
It is often said simply: the foreigners and trade unions have crowded Negroes out on account of race prejudice and left employers and philanthropists helpless in the matter. This is not strictly true. What the trade unions have done is to seize an economic advantage plainly offered them… white workmen were strong enough to go a step further than this and practically prohibit Negroes from entering trades under any circumstances (126) …They immediately combined against Negroes primarily to raise wages; the standard of living of the Negroes lets them accept low wages, and, conversely, long necessity of accepting the meagre wages offered have made a low standard of living. Thus partially by taking advantage of race prejudice, partially by greater economic efficiency and partially by the endeavour to maintain and raise wages, white workmen have not only monopolized the new industrial opportunities of an age which has transformed Philadelphia from a colonial town to a world-city, but have also been enabled to take from the Negro workman the opportunities he already enjoyed in certain lines of work (127)
Unions – ‘white’ sometimes actually inserted as one of the qualifications, but more generally informally maintained. To come to grips with the problems of the 7th ward, however, is above all providing employment:
…the one central question of the Seventh Ward, not imperative social betterments, raising of the standard of home life, taking advantage of the civilizing institutions of the great city—on the contrary, it makes it a sheer question of bread and butter and the maintenance of a standard of living above that of the Virginia plantation (140).
There is a chapter on health, noting high incidence of disease and sufferance, high death rates, particularly in comparison to other groups. He rarely loses his sustained sarcasm:
Particularly with regard to consumption it must be remembered that Negroes are not the first people who have been claimed as its peculiar victims; the Irish were once thought to be doomed by that disease—but that was when Irishmen were unpopular (160).
There is this startling pronouncement on the social nature of crime and on crime as rebellion that precedes and frames a chapter which in other ways sometimes seems to fall back on a more moral reading more palatable to his employers:
Crime is a phenomenon of organized social life, and is the open rebellion of an individual against his social environment (235).
The chapter on crime is sandwiched between this identification of employment as the primary issue and then telling lists of severe economic hardship house by house, room by room. This is followed by lists of individual’s efforts to educate themselves and failing, to find jobs and failing.
The real foundation of the difference is the widespread feeling all over the land, in Philadelphia as well as in Boston and New Orleans, that the Negro is something less than an American and ought not to be much more than what he is (284)
He notes that African Americans ‘are in the economic world purveyors to the rich’ (296), which forces them to live close, in central areas of the city where rents are higher, and there he pays more for house-rent than any other group. For those venturing outside of certain areas:
The Negro who ventures away from the mass of his people and their organised life, finds himself alone, shunned and taunted, stared at and made uncomfortable; he can make few new friends, for his neighbors however well-disposed would shrink to add a Negro to their list of acquaintances…Consequently emigration from the ward has gone in groups and centred itself about some church… (297)
While within African American areas:
agents and owners will not usually repair the houses of the blacks willingly or improve them. In addition to this agents and owners in many sections utterly refuse to rent to Negroes on any terms…public opinion in the city is such that the presence of even a respectable colored family in a block will affect its value for renting or sale… (348)
He states his optimism that this is changing. Sadness.
He notes the social distinctions between those born in Philly and those arrived from the South, with many migrants trying to hide their origins. Unlike many other coming after him who idealized the original ghetto with its mixture of classes, he also describes the distance between the better classes and the rest despite physical proximity:
…they are not the leaders or the ideal-makers of their own group in thought, work, of morals. They teach the masses to a very small extent, mingle with them but little, do not largely hire their labor. Instead then of social classes held together by strong ties of mutual interest we have in the case of the Negroes, classes who have much to keep them apart… (317)
He also describes the ways in which class intersects with a racial hierarchy that puts Anglo-Saxon on the top, this white privilege is extended with some ‘reluctance’ to the Slav and Celt. ‘We half deny it to the yellow races of Asia, admit the brown Indian to an ante-room…with the Negroes of Africa we come to a full stop’ (387). And within the Negroes, there are distinctions as well, of the ‘better’ classes he writes:
They are largely Philadelphia born, and being descended from the house-servant class, contain many mulattoes (318).
So much contained in that one sentence: the remnants of slavery, the higher social class/caste belonging to lighter skin, the history of rape.
There is a brilliant section on voter fraud. DuBois has some strange ideas about capitalists, the wealthy, the employers being of a better, more intelligent class more suited to improve society. He flirts with the idea of a benevolent dictatorship to solve some of these problems. Part of me thinks he is playing his white funders just a little here, but he might not be. He certainly became more and more radical over time. But here, he seems to be advocating limiting the right to vote to the ‘worthy’ due to the corruption of machine politics. There is a great transcript of a trial quoted at length, my favourite part:
Philip Brown, a McKinley-Citizen watcher, said that the election was a fraud. He saw Mr. Roberts with a pile of money, going around shouting, “That’s the stuff that wins!” (377)
At the same time, I think DuBois has a somewhat realistic and practical view of why his people might be in favour of machine politics, noting that they do offer some positions allowing African Americans to advance. These are better than none. The challenge is certainly to the reformers, who he fairly outrightly labels as racists, to prove their reforms will be of benefit. In his conclusions he writes:
If in the hey-day of the greatest of the world’s civilizations, it is possible for one people ruthlessly to steal another, drag them helpless across the water, enslave them, debauch them, and then slowly murder them by economic and social exclusion until they disappear from the face of the earth—if the consummation of such a crime be possible in the twentieth century, then our civilization is vain and the republic is a mockery and a farce (388).
And this is what I think he believed could lie ahead. The report ends on an optimistic note, but given its nature as a study leading to policy recommendations to help solve ‘the Negro problem’ (and I love how this entire book reframes it as a white problem) it does end on a hopeful note.
Also included is another study: ‘Special Report on Negro Domestic Service in the 7th Ward’ by Isabel Eaton. It made me think of Angela Davis’s work on this solidarity sometimes shared between abolitionist figures and early feminists and suffragettes who came together on the margins. Unlike DuBois’s work it doesn’t really get down to much of the lived experience of domestic workers, but is an invaluable data source on a subject too much ignored…the work of Black women.
April 9, 2017
While I did not read the book cover to cover, I did learn some pretty interesting facts. I was assigned two chapters for school and learned about other chapters from my classmates. The book is a sociology report on Philadelphia's 7th ward which was a major part of present day center city where majority of the black population lived. DuBois was asked to research the area in order to make reforms. A lot of what we would/do believe to true is not. Highly recommend if you are prepared to tackle straight up facts
February 4, 2015
One of the most fascinating books I've ever read. His range and depth and acute sense of studying while living with the people is mesmerizing. You don't always have to land where he lands. He's quite romantic and believes in a national aristocracy. But the clarity and sincerity in his thinking seems to be for the betterment of black people. His times were different, kind of. So I'm sympathetic to his respectability rhetoric. Nevertheless, this book was an amazing event to read.
March 21, 2014
In 1899 W.E.B. Dubois published this study of the Negro community in Philadelphia, which at that time was relatively small. In intricate detail he describes the lives of the black residents of the city. Written in precise and scientific language he describes the systemic and personal discrimination faced by these residents and their efforts to cope in spite of that. While he is understandably critical of the white power structure for the sorry condition of the black community, he does mince words for certain members of that community to take care of their community. While somewhat elitist in its tone, at the same time his descriptions of "Negro life" are poignant, precise and professional. Ironically Dubois himself, though ostensibly working out of the University of Pennsylvania was denied a permanent appointment there due to his race. While he does not say it, I could not help but notice he was a living example of someone denied their full due because of racism.
This latest (1996) edition is enriched by Elijah Anderson's introduction who himself has done street level observational studies of Philadelphia much like Dubois (Code of the Street; Canopy Spaces). Anderson's introduction provides helpful background to the purpose and significance of Dubois' work, and helps the reader see the connections between what Dubois observed and life in Philly today..
While over 100 years old what is striking is how similar the culture and practice of the city of 1899 seems to 2014. At points I thought I could be reading about present day Philly society while changing the names and expanding the scope from the city to the metropolitan area. We definitely are part of our history and our history is part of us. For anyone interested in knowing the early Dubois, knowing the history of African-Americans in Philadelphia and seeing some of the earliest sociological scientific studies, this is a must read.
This latest (1996) edition is enriched by Elijah Anderson's introduction who himself has done street level observational studies of Philadelphia much like Dubois (Code of the Street; Canopy Spaces). Anderson's introduction provides helpful background to the purpose and significance of Dubois' work, and helps the reader see the connections between what Dubois observed and life in Philly today..
While over 100 years old what is striking is how similar the culture and practice of the city of 1899 seems to 2014. At points I thought I could be reading about present day Philly society while changing the names and expanding the scope from the city to the metropolitan area. We definitely are part of our history and our history is part of us. For anyone interested in knowing the early Dubois, knowing the history of African-Americans in Philadelphia and seeing some of the earliest sociological scientific studies, this is a must read.
May 20, 2009
An early criminalogical study of Philadelphia. I thought about this book today when the Philadelphia prison reached an all time high of 9275 inmates, and when the senator, Arlen Spector decided that he was going to interrogate all immigrants at intake as to their legal status, just as the inmates in the 1800s were interrgoated as to their freeman status.
October 9, 2021
It was the first sociological case study of a black community in the United States and one of the earliest forms of sociology in general. Study shows many things happening today and how history repeats itself. The last section is the apparent solution to many of the injustice and inequality of the times ; he describes in details what both whites and blacks must do for the bettering of our nation, truly inspiring.
May 20, 2009
Incredible insights regarding the story of slavery, emancipation, and urban life for African Americans in early Philadelphia. First such sociological study in history. Also contains interesting biographical facts regarding W.E.B. DuBois, especially those associated with his employment with the University of Pennsylvania.
Want to read
March 2, 2019https://thewire.in/history/reviving-t...
"...The Philadelphia Negro, published in 1899, a book which deserves to be a foundational text of sociology (and was written before Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism)."
"...The Philadelphia Negro, published in 1899, a book which deserves to be a foundational text of sociology (and was written before Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism)."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 11, 2009
This is the beginnings of our modern urban ethnography tradtion particularly in exploring urban culture and its extrapolation.
March 28, 2016
A great deal of very good information. Interesting and enlightening. Was able to get a large amount of research done in this one book, for use in my novel.
May 26, 2020
Its astounding how similar certain things remained over the last 120 years.
October 20, 2023
Most of the rating comes from the insanely impressive scale of the work—actually interviewing each Black family in Philadelphia—and I think again most of the value lies in the very specific vignettes of families’ socioeconomic experiences he’ll list extensively in several sections. Despite his criticisms, I fear DuBois’s a capitalist at heart, though, with his lens focusing far too much on personal responsibility and idolization of work that betrays him temporally and I think is actively harmful. The reading experience is mostly dry since it’s mostly frequency tables of jobs and civic organizations and whatnot but maybe necessary when legitimating a new social Science and damn, man, power to him for that.
March 31, 2023
This book is a classic, a monument, a groundbreaking book in the field of sociology that was virtually ignored and largely unavailable for half a century, but is now starting to receive the attention that it deserves.
In 1896, Du Bois was hired by the University of Pennsylvania to do a study of the Black population of Philadelphia. He moved into the 7th Ward, and commenced one of the most systemic and comprehensive surveys of a population ever conducted at the time. The original publication was over 500 pages long and covered every aspect of urban Black life: history, immigration, work, religion, leisure, crime, the justice system, labor unions, health, death rates, and more. The study is filled with tables and statistics--Du Bois was stedfastly evidence based in this study. While he doesn't hit you over the head with it (a fact that various white reviewers noted and appreciated), Du Bois does include some trenchant critiques of systemic white racism, with data to back it all up.
The entire book is a classic, and it's hard to pick out favorite chapters. I appreciated chapter 2 on "The Negro Problems of Philadelphia"; chapters 3 and 4 on the history of Black Philadelphia; ch. 6 on marriage; ch. 8 on education; ch. 9 on "The Occupations of Negroes"; ch. 11 on the family; chs 12 on the Black church in Philly; ch. 13 on crime and criminal "justice"; ch. 16 on "The Contact of the Races"; and of course the classic concluding statements in "A Final Word."
If you are interested in Black history; Du Bois; Black urban life; Black urban life *in the North*; sociology; race and racism; criminal justice or any of the topics mentioned above; or really, if you just want to read a masterpiece of scholarship, you really should pick up a copy of this classic book.
There have been a number of different editions published over the years (with scholarly introductions). I found and read all of the various introductions and like Aptheker's (1973) the best, as well as Aldon Morris's The Scholar Denied: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology for historical/historiographical context. I own/read the Oxford edition and appreciated it just fine, though they do pack a lot of print per page.
I've compiled a brief survey of these editions here:
https://biblioskolex.wordpress.com/20...
In 1896, Du Bois was hired by the University of Pennsylvania to do a study of the Black population of Philadelphia. He moved into the 7th Ward, and commenced one of the most systemic and comprehensive surveys of a population ever conducted at the time. The original publication was over 500 pages long and covered every aspect of urban Black life: history, immigration, work, religion, leisure, crime, the justice system, labor unions, health, death rates, and more. The study is filled with tables and statistics--Du Bois was stedfastly evidence based in this study. While he doesn't hit you over the head with it (a fact that various white reviewers noted and appreciated), Du Bois does include some trenchant critiques of systemic white racism, with data to back it all up.
The entire book is a classic, and it's hard to pick out favorite chapters. I appreciated chapter 2 on "The Negro Problems of Philadelphia"; chapters 3 and 4 on the history of Black Philadelphia; ch. 6 on marriage; ch. 8 on education; ch. 9 on "The Occupations of Negroes"; ch. 11 on the family; chs 12 on the Black church in Philly; ch. 13 on crime and criminal "justice"; ch. 16 on "The Contact of the Races"; and of course the classic concluding statements in "A Final Word."
If you are interested in Black history; Du Bois; Black urban life; Black urban life *in the North*; sociology; race and racism; criminal justice or any of the topics mentioned above; or really, if you just want to read a masterpiece of scholarship, you really should pick up a copy of this classic book.
There have been a number of different editions published over the years (with scholarly introductions). I found and read all of the various introductions and like Aptheker's (1973) the best, as well as Aldon Morris's The Scholar Denied: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology for historical/historiographical context. I own/read the Oxford edition and appreciated it just fine, though they do pack a lot of print per page.
I've compiled a brief survey of these editions here:
https://biblioskolex.wordpress.com/20...
January 5, 2013
Really interesting to know that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It does normalize some of the African American patterns of today however (ie marriage at later ages, propensity for entrepreneurship/laborers/learned professions, etc.) Also interesting to see that we were never a "traditional" family per say...everyone worked! The concept of "stay at home mom" was rare then too!
November 30, 2022
This piece of literature should be required reading for all decolonized social science syllabi and reading lists. Du Bois gives insight on the lives of Negroes living in Philadelphia that is relevant today; his methodology crisp, his analysis insightful. I especially appreciated his description of philanthropy in an unromantic posture: they are called benevolent despots. How apt is that?
January 23, 2008
Early sociological work! Census stuff doesn't do it for me, but this guy's got such a cool name!
Want to read
July 18, 2014Pennsylvania
November 18, 2018
A very important social study about Black people in one of America's oldest cities.
February 27, 2025
THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO
"The Philadelphia Negro" is a groundbreaking sociological study by W.E.B. Du Bois, conducted when he was just 32 years old. Commissioned in 1896, it meticulously documents the economic, social, and political conditions of Philadelphia’s Black community. This work, based on firsthand research and statistical analysis, was unprecedented in its depth and rigor.
Later in life, W.E.B. Du Bois became increasingly socialist in his views, embracing Marxism explicitly by the 1940s. His shift toward a materialist analysis of race and class can already be foreshadowed in “The Philadelphia Negro”, where he examines Black poverty not as a product of innate deficiencies but as a consequence of systemic economic and social conditions. His emphasis on labor, housing, and structural barriers hints at the Marxian framework he would later fully adopt.
“THE TALENTED TENTH” (1900s–1920s)
Du Bois was initially focused on racial uplift through education and elite leadership (his "Talented Tenth" philosophy). However, he became more radical over time, especially as he saw capitalism failing to provide racial justice. By the 1910s and 1920s, he was already critical of the economic exploitation of Black Americans and supported labor movements.
Today, the "Talented Tenth"—the Black professional middle and upper classes—have unprecedented access to wealth, prominence, and authority. Figures like Clarence Thomas, Joy Ann Reid, Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Colin Powell, Ben Carson, and Thomas Sowell exemplify this success. Yet, despite their influence, they have largely abandoned the Black poor and working class, whose position in society remains as precarious as it was in 1899—if not more so—amid worsening economic inequality and systemic neglect. In short, they have gone in precisely the opposite direction WEB Du Bois hoped they would.
SHIFT TOWARD SOCIALISM (1930s)
During the Great Depression, Du Bois saw capitalism's failures firsthand and began exploring socialism as an alternative. He engaged with socialist ideas in The Crisis, the NAACP magazine he edited. By the 1930s, he had openly called for socialized industry and was increasingly aligned with socialist thought.
EMBRACE OF MARXISM (1940s)
By the 1940s, Du Bois had become explicitly Marxist. He believed that the economic oppression of Black people was tied to the broader capitalist system and that socialism (and eventually communism) was the only viable path to true racial and economic equality.
The emphasis on structural inequality and the role of economic forces in shaping racial oppression in his Philadelphia study foreshadow his later turn toward Marxism. While he initially sought solutions through education and elite leadership, his early sociological work already reflected a materialist analysis of race and class, which later aligned with Marxist critiques of capitalism.
ANTI RACISM or SOCIALISM?
Modern figures like Robin DiAngelo, Ibram X. Kendi, Joy-Ann Reid, and Ta-Nehisi Coates focus on ideology, privilege, and cultural narratives, reducing racism to personal bias while neglecting economic oppression. In contrast, W.E.B. Du Bois understood racial injustice as inseparable from capitalism, emphasizing material conditions over moral posturing. His later Marxism was a natural extension of his belief that racial and economic liberation were intertwined—an insight largely absent from today’s mainstream racial discourse.
Du Bois saw the path to racial justice in socialism, believing that the working class—Black and white—needed to overcome capitalist divide-and-conquer tactics and unite in a common struggle against economic exploitation. In contrast, today’s mainstream racial commentators promote a politics of division, emphasizing racial guilt and privilege rather than solidarity. Their approach, as I am sure they are well aware, serves the interests of the capitalist class by keeping workers fragmented and distracted from the shared fight for liberation.
"The Philadelphia Negro" is a groundbreaking sociological study by W.E.B. Du Bois, conducted when he was just 32 years old. Commissioned in 1896, it meticulously documents the economic, social, and political conditions of Philadelphia’s Black community. This work, based on firsthand research and statistical analysis, was unprecedented in its depth and rigor.
Later in life, W.E.B. Du Bois became increasingly socialist in his views, embracing Marxism explicitly by the 1940s. His shift toward a materialist analysis of race and class can already be foreshadowed in “The Philadelphia Negro”, where he examines Black poverty not as a product of innate deficiencies but as a consequence of systemic economic and social conditions. His emphasis on labor, housing, and structural barriers hints at the Marxian framework he would later fully adopt.
“THE TALENTED TENTH” (1900s–1920s)
Du Bois was initially focused on racial uplift through education and elite leadership (his "Talented Tenth" philosophy). However, he became more radical over time, especially as he saw capitalism failing to provide racial justice. By the 1910s and 1920s, he was already critical of the economic exploitation of Black Americans and supported labor movements.
Today, the "Talented Tenth"—the Black professional middle and upper classes—have unprecedented access to wealth, prominence, and authority. Figures like Clarence Thomas, Joy Ann Reid, Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Colin Powell, Ben Carson, and Thomas Sowell exemplify this success. Yet, despite their influence, they have largely abandoned the Black poor and working class, whose position in society remains as precarious as it was in 1899—if not more so—amid worsening economic inequality and systemic neglect. In short, they have gone in precisely the opposite direction WEB Du Bois hoped they would.
SHIFT TOWARD SOCIALISM (1930s)
During the Great Depression, Du Bois saw capitalism's failures firsthand and began exploring socialism as an alternative. He engaged with socialist ideas in The Crisis, the NAACP magazine he edited. By the 1930s, he had openly called for socialized industry and was increasingly aligned with socialist thought.
EMBRACE OF MARXISM (1940s)
By the 1940s, Du Bois had become explicitly Marxist. He believed that the economic oppression of Black people was tied to the broader capitalist system and that socialism (and eventually communism) was the only viable path to true racial and economic equality.
The emphasis on structural inequality and the role of economic forces in shaping racial oppression in his Philadelphia study foreshadow his later turn toward Marxism. While he initially sought solutions through education and elite leadership, his early sociological work already reflected a materialist analysis of race and class, which later aligned with Marxist critiques of capitalism.
ANTI RACISM or SOCIALISM?
Modern figures like Robin DiAngelo, Ibram X. Kendi, Joy-Ann Reid, and Ta-Nehisi Coates focus on ideology, privilege, and cultural narratives, reducing racism to personal bias while neglecting economic oppression. In contrast, W.E.B. Du Bois understood racial injustice as inseparable from capitalism, emphasizing material conditions over moral posturing. His later Marxism was a natural extension of his belief that racial and economic liberation were intertwined—an insight largely absent from today’s mainstream racial discourse.
Du Bois saw the path to racial justice in socialism, believing that the working class—Black and white—needed to overcome capitalist divide-and-conquer tactics and unite in a common struggle against economic exploitation. In contrast, today’s mainstream racial commentators promote a politics of division, emphasizing racial guilt and privilege rather than solidarity. Their approach, as I am sure they are well aware, serves the interests of the capitalist class by keeping workers fragmented and distracted from the shared fight for liberation.
August 27, 2024
I would like to dislike this book due to the very nature of the due date assigned to me for reading, but I cannot deny the usefulness of what Du Bois has done within this book. You truly become familiar with the rampant discrimination and post-slavery conditions of minority populations in the 18th thru 20th centuries and can recognize what racist values still stand in our modern world. Stressing to have read in such a short time, but profound noneness (I'm coping).
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September 3, 2020I read this book because I felt like I had to. This is a study, so there are tons of charts and numbers. The sheer amount of data is impressive. But it is not fun to read, unless you really love numbers and charts.
November 30, 2022
bon g clairement juste lu l'intro et la conclu... mais à approfondir ...
May 28, 2024
Interesting.
September 18, 2024
Better than Suppression.
September 29, 2024
Wow. What an amazing study. From historical to overall data to narrowed down data to interviews and interpretation. Unbelievable social history study
November 21, 2024
TA told me not to let this turn me off his work because it’s too early in his career, bur I must admit it’s doing just that
December 29, 2024
Read for a class before I dropped the class. Going back to the class next semester. A classic and transformative piece of Sociological / historical zeitgeist writing.
July 22, 2025
Excellent quantitative research on Du Bois’ part. This could have been the start of a stronger movement for equality. But not to be until 70 years later.
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