At long last, I can reveal a new version of W.E.B. Du Bois’ classic work The Souls of Black Folk that I hope will inspire and enlighten modern audiences.
Originally published in 1903, The Souls of Black Folk is a collection of essays on race. Specifically, it focuses on the experiences of black African slaves and their descendants as they navigate post-Reconstruction American society. Each chapter is prefaced by several bars of what du Bois calls a “sorrow song,” a piece of vocal music originating in black American culture that we today would call a “spiritual.” The essays contain historical analyses, anecdotes from Du Bois’ life, and cautionary tales from the black experience. Some of the observations Du Bois made are (sadly) still relevant almost 125 years later, and it was this realization that inspired my redesign.
This version of the book is intended to visually refresh the text and make it feel more contemporary. The cover features French flaps that hide an illustration I created specifically for the book. The image is reminiscent of a starfield and nebulae, and is intentionally designed to come into greater clarity the closer and longer you look at it. The front cover has a die cut to let the image show through the front, giving a hint of its complexity and inviting the reader to take a longer look at what they might ordinarily pass over.
For more about this project and a sample of Chapter 1, head over to the book’s design page.