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

Edited by Whitney Battle-Baptiste and Britt Rusert

Famed sociologist, writer, and Black rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois fundamentally changed the representation of Black Americans with his exhibition of data visualizations at the 1900 Paris Exposition. Beautiful in design and powerful in content, these data portraits make visible a wide spectrum of African American culture, from advances in education to the lingering effects of slavery. They convey a literal and figurative representation of what he famously referred to as "the color line," collected here in full color for the first time.

As Du Bois's prophetic work continues to grow in potency and relevance, these images illustrate, in the words of the introduction, how "data might be reimagined as a form of accountability and even protest in the age of Black Lives Matter."

Hardcover, 144 pages, 7.3 x 0.9 x 10.3". Black & White Photographs and Full Color Infographics.

Copyright 2018 Whitney Battle-Baptiste and Britt Rusert with Princeton Architectural Press.