W. E. B. Du Bois [antikvár]

AT AGE twelve 1 stood beside my father one day in August 1948 as he spokewith WE.B. Du Bois on the campus of Wilberforce University. I cannotrecall the answer 1 gave when the latter asked what my plans were for life,but it certainly could not have anticipated what I would say to him todayabout the plan my life has followed for the past eight years. Research for thisbiography began in 1985. Since that time, it has often almost seemed thatthe problem of the twentieth century for me was far less the problem of thecolor line than it was the problem of WE.B. Du Bois. The voyage throughhis ninety-five years has been long, challenging, and fascinating, extendingover three continents into twenty-eight archives and research librariescontaining ninety-nine collections, and into the lives of some 150 people.Yet with the completion ot this volume, the writing of the life is only halfdone. The opposite hurtles of fatigue and obsession inherent in biography,thus far avoided, still stand in the road ahead. If luck holds, however, thesplendid support and counsel of friends and colleagues and the exceptionalcooperation of a great variety of professionals will continue to safeguard mefrom both dangers.Because those to whom I owe large and lasting debts for having madethis first volume possible are so numerous, I hope I may be forgiven fordeciding that the most fitting manner in which to record my appreciation issimply to list them below without the comment each so richly merits. ToRon Bailey, therefore, and Esme Bhan, Philip Butcher, and James Celarier;Paul Clemens, David Donald, and Gabrielle Edgcomb; Paula Giddings,Louis Harlan, and Kenneth Janken; August Meier, John McCormick, and