W. E. B. Du Bois’s Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America

Whitney Battle-baptiste (Editor) Britt Rusert (Editor) Princeton Architectural Press (OCTOBER) Hardcover $29.95 (144pp), 978-1-61689-706-2

Insightful and in-depth, the graphic displays of W. E. B. Du Bois and his students showcase the forward movement of African Americans in spite of longstanding and continuing oppression.

Edited by Whitney Battle-baptiste and Britt Rusert, this compilation of sociological charts, graphs, and maps from the 1900 Paris Exposition showcases the informative graphics in crisp detail, and provides essays that contextualize the information presented.

The essays discuss Du Bois’s research strategies, the educational climate of the era, and the way these charts fit into his larger body of work. Du Bois is known for having been ahead of his time, and these hand-drawn and designed graphics anticipate many modern information-sharing methods in their creative design and ease of access.

The complex information portrayed, from how black families spent their money in the late 1800s to the black population in various states, is accessible and rich in detail. The charts rely on progressive disclosure, telling a narrative by revealing exactly the amount of information one can process at one time, while each chart builds to a wider picture of a situation.

What emerges is a portrait of African Americans who, even in the late 1800s, were progressing substantially in areas like increased participation in business, landownership, and school enrollment.

The epigraph remarks on how the “problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line,” a quote from Du Bois himself. As many contemplate how marginalization can be eliminated in the twenty-first century, the charts of W. E. B. Du Bois’s Data Portraits offer guidance into how sociology can draw attention to unnoticed inequities as well as under-celebrated progress.