From Publishers Weekly
After his 1895 speech advocating economic opportunities for African-Americans, the press asked of Booker T. Washington, "Is He a New Negro?" According to photographic historian Deborah Willis, the term "New Negro" became shorthand for "a spirit of self-awareness, artistic consciousness, and racial pride," a spirit that has been captured in this 8" 8" book of 150 late-19th-century duotone photographs. The images, used by W.E.B. Du Bois for his "Exhibit of American Negroes" at the 1900 Paris World's Fair, depict African-American businesses, churches, homes and schools, as well as African-Americans themselves, usually in the stiff collar, plumed hat and pince-nez of the middle class. The goal of the exhibition, writes Levering Lewis, author of a multi-volume Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Du Bois, was to show African-Americans as "a proud, productive, and cultured race." In their introductory articles, Lewis and Willis both tell the history of the exhibition and interpret the photographs. If they occasionally lapse into awkward academic prose, their essays provide welcome context for the pictures, which are more informative about period conventions than moving, possibly because Du Bois saw them as sociological markers and neglected to take the subjects' or the photographers' names. Perhaps the photographs' most significant feature is the response they generated. At the world's fair, Du Bois and his exhibition won gold medals; in America, the exhibition and its success received no press at all. Furthermore, Lewis astutely points out the parallel between America's eagerness to impress Europe and African-Americans' eagerness to impress America: using the stage of the world's fair, both groups frankly lobbied for legitimacy as "culturally mature." In subsequent years, however, the international perception of America improved, while race relations at home deteriorated. Except for these photographs, preserved in the Library of Congress, the constructed image of the New Negro was dropped from history. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
A Small Nation of People: W.E.B. Du Bois and African American Portraits of Progress, with essays by David Levering Lewis and Deborah Willis (Amistad/Library of Congress, $24.95). By 1900, most African Americans were merely 35 years from slavery. Yet they made tremendous strides in that brief period: In Georgia, which had the largest black population in the country, they owned a million acres and paid taxes on $12 million worth of property. Those figures were compiled by W.E.B. Du Bois, the brilliant polymath who was already on his way to national prominence. His findings were shared as part of the American Negro Exhibit, a multimedia installation unveiled at the 1900 Paris Exposition. Du Bois assembled the project with attorney Thomas Calloway, librarian Daniel A. P. Murray and a small team of assistants. As important -- and impressive -- as Du Bois's facts and figures were, the photos on display there, of which more than 150 are included in A Small Nation, were especially compelling. Scholar Deborah Willis writes, "The photographs in the exhibit reflected the ideals of the Victorian era and those of an emerging black middle class. Photographs of interiors of well-furnished living rooms and music rooms, with art, flowers, and family photographs prominently placed, changed perceptions about the home life of black people." In choosing such photos, Willis notes, Du Bois "asked his audience to reexamine their notions of the Southern black." Willis's essay will help contemporary readers regard the many evocative black-and-white images in their proper historical context, as will the informative essay by Du Bois biographer David Levering Lewis. Picture PerfectCopyright 2004, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved.
From Booklist
W. E. B. DuBois was charged with preparing an exhibit to represent the lives of black Americans for the 1900 International Exposition in Paris, a task the U.S. government had blatantly ignored. DuBois approached the assignment as an opportunity to counteract negative stereotypes of black Americans, presenting instead photographs depicting the industry, intelligence, and diversity of African Americans in their lives--at church, school, and work, and in family portraits. Daniel Alexander Payne Murray, a man born to freed slaves who became the personal assistant to the Librarian of Congress in 1871, maintained the collection and left it to his employer. In this impressive book, the library offers 150 of the collected photographs, accompanied by essays providing historic context and analyzing the significance of DuBois' efforts to provide an accurate portrayal of the accomplishments, aspirations, and lives of black Americans at a time when racism and stereotypes abounded in the U.S. Readers interested in African American history from the turn of the twentieth century will love this rare glimpse of photographs from that era. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Richmond Times-Dispatch
"More than just a pretty cover....[A Small Nation of People] will provide...enjoyment for months and years to come."
Black Issues Book Review
"A landmark book."
Book Description
As the world prepared for the Exposition Universalle de 1900 in Paris, W. E. B. Du Bois was approached to help represent African American life. He came with a cache of stunning photographs to illustrate the progress of Negroes in America -- thereby offering a photographic counterpoint to the prolific stereotyping of blacks that left viewers awestruck.
With insights from Pulitzer Prize winner David Levering Lewis and Mac-Arthur Fellow photo historian Deborah Willis, A Small Nation of People presents more than one hundred and fifty of these important photographs together for the first time since their initial unveiling. Here is an incredible treasure trove of illustrations of African Americans in front of their new businesses, universities, and homes -- sometimes modest, sometimes elegant. Here, too, are beautiful Victorian-era portraits of blacks whose varied hues show how diverse black Americans truly were. Viewed together, the collection reveals in glorious detail what Du Bois saw -- a small nation of people prepared to make their mark on America.
About the Author
A MacArthur Fellow, David Levering Lewis is the author of several books, including W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century and Du Bois: Biography of a Race. He was awarded the Pulizter for both books, which is unprecedented. A Professor of History at NYU, he has also taught at Rutgers University.
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