The Negro Problem: Views of Leading African American Citizens at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (Timeless Classic Books)

Published at the beginning of the 20th century, The Negro problem is a compilation of interesting articles authored by leading African American citizens of the day. Looking back at this synopsis of African American affairs one can get a good sense of both the progress made and the problems yet to be overcome, some of which have still not been fully addressed. Aside from the well known Booker T. Washington, other prominent African Americans contributed to this book. William Edward Burghardt DuBois was an intellectual leader of the black community in America. Charles Waddell Chesnutt was an author, essayist and political activist, best known for his novels and short stories exploring complex issues of racial and social identity. Paul Laurence Dunbar was a seminal African American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 "Ode to Ethiopia", one poem in the collection Lyrics of Lowly Life. Wilford H. Smith was an attorney and an official of the Afro-American Realty Company, a Black-owned company that leased White-owned buildings to Blacks. H. T. Kealing was a professor and was President of Paul Quinn College, Waco, Texas, T. Thomas Fortune was the most militant Afro-American newspaper editor of the post-Reconstruction era. Among the issues discussed are Booker T. Washington's stress on industrial education for black Americans, W. E. B. Du Bois's concept of "The Talented Tenth," disenfranchisement of blacks, the law and African Americans, real versus perceived characteristics of people of color, and outstanding representative black Americans.