The Negro

The Negro

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Title: The Negro
Author: W.E.B. Du Bois
Release Date: March 14, 2005 [EBook #15359]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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NEGRO ***

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THE NEGRO
W.E.B. Du Bois

New York: Holt, 1915
[Transcriber's Notes for e-book versions:
Hyphenation and accentuation are inconsistent, but are generally left as
found in the edition used for transcription. This edition may or may not
have completely replicated the 1915 edition of the book. Where
changes have been made, they are noted below. If you are using this
book for research, please verify any spelling or punctuation with

another source.
A missing quotation mark was inserted at the beginning of this
paragraph: "It is difficult to imagine that Egypt should have obtained it
from Europe where the oldest find (in Hallstadt) cannot be of an earlier
period than 800 B.C., or from Asia, where iron is not known before
1000 B.C., and where, in the times of Ashur Nazir Pal, it was still used
concurrently with bronze, while iron beads have been only recently
discovered by Messrs. G.A. Wainwright and Bushe Fox in a
predynastic grave, and where a piece of this metal, possibly a tool, was
found in the masonry of the great pyramid."]

CONTENTS
Preface I Africa II The Coming of Black Men III Ethiopia and Egypt
IV The Niger and Islam V Guinea and Congo VI The Great Lakes and
Zymbabwe VII The War of Races at Land's End VIII African Culture
IX The Trade in Men X The West Indies and Latin America XI The
Negro in the United States XII The Negro Problems Suggestions for
Further Reading
MAPS
The Physical Geography of Africa Ancient Kingdoms of Africa Races
in Africa Distribution of Negro Blood, Ancient and Modern

THE NEGRO

TO A FAITHFUL HELPER M.G.A.

PREFACE
The time has not yet come for a complete history of the Negro peoples.
Archæological research in Africa has just begun, and many sources of
information in Arabian, Portuguese, and other tongues are not fully at
our command; and, too, it must frankly be confessed, racial prejudice
against darker peoples is still too strong in so-called civilized centers
for judicial appraisement of the peoples of Africa. Much intensive
monographic work in history and science is needed to clear mooted
points and quiet the controversialist who mistakes present personal
desire for scientific proof.

Nevertheless, I have not been able to withstand the temptation to essay
such short general statement of the main known facts and their fair
interpretation as shall enable the general reader to know as men a sixth
or more of the human race. Manifestly so short a story must be mainly
conclusions and generalizations with but meager indication of
authorities and underlying arguments. Possibly, if the Public will, a
later and larger book may be more satisfactory on these points.
W.E. BURGHARDT DU BOIS.
New York City, Feb. 1, 1915.

[Illustration: The Physical Geography of Africa]

I AFRICA
"Behold! The Sphinx is Africa. The bond Of Silence is upon her. Old
And white with tombs, and rent and shorn; With raiment wet with tears
and torn, And trampled on, yet all untamed."
MILLER
Africa is at once the most romantic and the most tragic of continents.
Its very names reveal its mystery and wide-reaching influence. It is the
"Ethiopia" of the Greek, the "Kush" and "Punt" of the Egyptian, and the
Arabian "Land of the Blacks." To modern Europe it is the "Dark
Continent" and "Land of Contrasts"; in literature it is the seat of the
Sphinx and the lotus eaters, the home of the dwarfs, gnomes, and pixies,
and the refuge of the gods; in commerce it is the slave mart and the
source of ivory, ebony, rubber, gold, and diamonds. What other
continent can rival in interest this Ancient of Days?
There are those, nevertheless, who would write universal history and
leave out Africa. But how, asks Ratzel, can one leave out the land of
Egypt and Carthage? and Frobenius declares that in future Africa must
more and more be regarded as an integral part of the great movement of
world history. Yet it is true that the history of Africa is unusual, and its
strangeness is due in no small degree to the physical peculiarities of the
continent. With three times the area of