CBH Talk | W. E. B. Du Bois’ Unexamined Struggle
In his new book, The Wounded World, historian Chad Williams presents a poignant biography of W. E. B. Du Bois in the second half of his life, and provides fresh understanding of arguably the most significant scholar-activist in African American history. Williams tells of a long-gestating but never-completed book project that W. E. B. Du Bois wrestled with for much of his life. As the U.S. entered the First World War, Du Bois called on Black Americans to support the country's war efforts, believing in the possibility of full citizenship and democratic change. But over two decades, as he worked to write the definitive history of the African American experience in WWI, Du Bois’ perspective radically changed. Williams describes this story of hope, betrayal, disillusionment, and transformation, in a conversation with historian Leah Wright Rigueur.
Participants
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Chad L. Williams is the Samuel J. and Augusta Spector Professor of History and African and African American Studies at Brandeis University. He is the author of the award-winning book Torchbearers of Democracy: African American Soldiers in the World War I Era and the co-editor of Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism, and Racial Violence. His writings and op-eds have appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Time, and The Conversation.
Image by Mike Lovett.
Leah Wright Rigueur is a political historian whose scholarship includes 20th Century United States political and social history, Modern African American history with an emphasis on race and political ideology, the American Presidency including presidential elections, policies and civil rights movements, and protest and unrest in the United States. Rigueur’s award-winning book, The Loneliness of the Black Republican: Pragmatic Politics and the Pursuit of Power, describes more than four decades of American political and social history, and examines the ideas and actions of black officials and politicians, from the era of the New Deal to Ronald Reagan’s presidential ascent in 1980.
