Skip to main content

W. E. B. Du Bois to Charles W. Chesnutt, 1903

Textual Feature Appearance
alterations to base text (additions or deletions) added or deleted text
passage deleted with a strikethrough mark deleted passage
passage deleted by overwritten added text Deleted text Added text
position of added text (if not added inline) [right margin] text added in right margin; [above line] text added above the line
page number, repeated letterhead, etc. page number or repeated letterhead
supplied text [supplied text]
archivist note archivist note
 

Thank you for your interest in my article I return your clipping. I could not go much in detail on account of space but I trust my words will suit you. Don't forget the periodical. I have in mind now a national weekly something like Harper's Weekly I think that properly started it would pay1

 



Correspondent: William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868–1963) was a sociologist, historian, and world-renowned civil rights activist. After completing coursework at the University of Berlin and Harvard, Du Bois became the first African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard in 1895. He was a professor of history, sociology, and economics at Atlanta University (1897-1910 and again in the 1930s). He was a prominent leader of the Niagara Movement and helped found the NAACP in 1909. As the editor of the NAACP's journal, The Crisis, from 1910 to 1931, Du Bois published four of Chesnutt's short stories as well as two of his essays. See "The Doll" (April 1912), "Mr. Taylor's Funeral" (April/May 1915), "The Marked Tree" (Dec 1924/Jan 1925), and "Concerning Father" (May 1930); and "Women's Rights" (1915) and "The Negro in Art" (November 1926).



1. Harper's Weekly was an influential periodical published from 1857 to 1916 by the New York based publishing house Harper & Brothers. Distinct from Harpers' Magazine, also published by Harper & Brothers, Harper's Weekly featured more political coverage (including its famous cartoons and illustrations). It had circulation numbers well above 100,000 from the 1860s on. Its influence in the 20th century was less pronounced; in 1916, it merged with the Independent (which in turn later merged with The Outlook).[back]