W.E.B DU BOIS
THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK

Du Bois's text is is one of the most challenging and important texts in the formation of the American "national."  Most obvious (and most famous) is its formulation of what he calls "double consciousness" as a trope for understanding the psychic experience of being Black in the United States.  Equally important is his broadly defined search for a "soul" of a collective "folk," some essential and vital character that can characterize in particular, black.  Had he offered a simple definition of "soul," or located it in one activity or state (inheritance, genes, shared cultures of music, or history), his book would have been much more easier to read, and would have long been forgotten.  For as is clear, whatever definition of "soul" Du Bois may explore, it lies in all of the categories (history, biology, culture, social life, consciousness) he touches on.  This in turn is why he turns to so many different genres and discourses in his book: history, sociology, autobiography, ethnography, fiction, even music.  To help you negotiate this, here are some thoughts and questions about Du Bois's project.

• Overall, you should be prepared to address Du Bois's writing both as a logical argument, grounded particularly in history and ethnography, and as an explicitly poetic text.  Sometimes he will signal switches from one mode to another, as when he frames his discussion of Atlanta with the tale of Atalanta.  At others, the connection is not so clear.  Why, for instance, does he begin his seemingly true tale of his own life, in "Of the Meaning of Progress," with "Once upon a time?" Are we to take the story as fairy tale (and if so, what is its lesson?) or personal history?  Be ready to switch from one mode of analysis to another even when he seems to me at his most objective.
• Du Bois begins each chapter with selections of poetry and what he describes as "a bar of the Sorrow Songs."  What does he suggest by this juxtaposition?  How does the material reflect on the material in each chapter?  How does it prepare for his concluding chapter on the songs themselves?
• Central to Du Bois diagnosis of the social condition of Blacks is "the training of black men."  Certainly this emphasizes his understanding of the importance of education.  What kind of education does he deem the right kind?  How does it fit with your understanding of education?  
• "The training of black men" raises another important issue: gender.  How does Du Bois define manliness?  Where is he most explicit about this? How concerned is he about the training of women?  On what do you think his thinking about this rests?  How does he write about the relations between men and women?  How does his understanding of gender influence his understanding of race, and vice versa?
• At the end of Chapter 3, Du Bois quotes from the Declaration of Independence, and in fact, there is much to suggest that his larger concern is writing about the souls of American folk, or at least engaging critically myths of American nationality.  This is particularly the case in Chapter 7, where he offers an alternative history of Georgia, and by  extension, America.  You might ask yourself as you read what Du Bois thinks about the country and, more complexly, about "nation."  Could he be positing another way of imagining our community?
• How does Du Bois relate to the "folk" he describes in his text?  Is he one of them?  In what ways?  When does it seem that he counts himself outside of the people he discusses?  Does this qualify his project, or is he somehow included in it?
• Twain's novel suggests a powerful tension between nature and nurture, biology and environment, in definitions of race.  Where does Du Bois come down in this conflict?
• One final dimension: of deep concern to Du Bois is the impact of the modern on the traditional -- the ability of modern bureaucratic, technological, and economic energy and organization to destroy, and to make anew, older patterns of life and thought.  Pay attention to how he describes this conflict, and ask yourself as you read where his sympathies lie.