The Artist

Du Bois’s 36 works of fiction, poetry, satire, allegory, and prose poetry from The Crisis (1910-1934)

A different Du Bois. Alongside the polemicist, sociologist, and strategist, The Crisis published a fiction writer, poet, satirist, and prose stylist who considered every available literary form a weapon for racial justice. These 36 pieces appear when argumentative patience is exhausted and Du Bois turns to parable.

Fiction and Allegory

“The Princess of the Hither Isles” is allegorical fable, compressing the history of racial exploitation into a story about a princess and a tower of gold. “Jesus Christ in Georgia” places Christ in the Jim Crow South. “Pontius Pilate” collapses two thousand years into a single scene. Du Bois used fiction to say what editorials could not.

Poetry

“A Hymn to the Peoples,” “Song of the Smoke,” and other poems that deploy rhythm and image where argument fails. Du Bois wrote poetry sparingly, but the pieces collected here show a writer working in a register entirely different from his editorial voice.

Satire and Dialogue

“On Being Crazy” is a Socratic dialogue anticipating absurdist literature. “Again, Social Equality” names the sexual subtext of segregation with startling directness. “Of Giving Work” uses dramatic dialogue to expose the logic of racial exclusion. These pieces use humor and formal invention where direct argument would be deflected.

  • A Mild Suggestion (1912) — biting satirical dialogue on “solutions” to the Negro problem
  • A Little Play (1914) — claims of “inferiority” exposed
  • Steve (1919) — allegory for Russia’s revolution
  • On Being Crazy (1923) — everyday racial exclusion as irrational cruelty

Prose Poetry and Travel

“Chamounix” is a prose poem about Mont Blanc with no politics at all. “Little Portraits of Africa” is the most beautiful prose in the corpus. These pieces reveal a writer who could have been a literary artist full-time, and chose not to.

All Literary Writing

Date Title Description
1911 (Mar) Triumph Condemns lynching and white‑supremacist mob violence, urging Black resistance for justice and democracy.
1911 (May) The Quadroon Champions humanity beyond race, using lyrical praise of mixed heritage to critique white supremacy and defend democracy.
1911 (Jun) Jesus Christ in Georgia Exposes how convict labor and mob violence reveal white supremacy, morally indicting racism and offering redemption.
1911 (Jun) Joseph Pulitzer Analyzes Joseph Pulitzer, noting the New York World’s fair treatment of Black Americans amid harsh press rivalries.
1912 (Jan) A Mild Suggestion Presents a biting satirical dialogue in The Crisis (Jan 1912) examining ‘solutions’ to the Negro problem, contrasting reform talk with violence.
1912 (Jan) The Third Battle of Bull Run Argues in The Crisis (1912) that the third battle at Manassas is for Black education and democracy, funding a school as resistance.
1912 (Mar) Brother Baptis’ on Woman Suffrage Jonas, Rosalie in The Crisis (1912) examines how woman suffrage intersects with race, arguing Black women face shared oppression and illusory freedom.
1912 (Apr) In God’s Gardens Argues for North–South unity and an interracial future, urging democracy beyond fear and prejudice.
1913 (Jan) I Go A-Talking Chronicles a 7,000-mile tour, documenting Black communities, exposing Jim Crow segregation, and urging racial uplift.
1913 (Apr) Easter-Emancipation 1863-1913 Mourns Black sacrifice since 1863 and affirms hard-won freedom, memory, and the cost of race and liberation.
1913 (Apr) The Princess of the Hither Isles Condemns racial exclusion and imperial greed, showing how white supremacy dehumanizes and destroys.
1913 (Jun) The Three Wise Men Frames a Christmas parable that reclaims spiritual birth and uplifts the lowly, centering Black ministry.
1914 (Jan) The Song of the Smoke Makes ‘smoke’ a black emblem of industrial labor, exposing race, toil, and modernity’s moral costs.
1914 (Mar) A Little Play Satirizes racial prejudice, exposing how claims of ‘inferiority’ deny equality and humane treatment.
1914 (Mar) The Story of Africa Celebrates Africa’s great civilizations and condemns the violence of empire, trade and slavery.
1914 (Apr) Of the Children of Peace Condemns war as organized murder, urging mothers and children to demand peace and end death and hunger.
1914 (May) The Burden of Black Women Condemns white supremacy’s burden on Black women, exposing racial and gender injustice.
1914 (Jun) The Christmas Prayers of God Condemns war, imperial exploitation, racial violence and lynching, pleading to God for justice and mercy.
1917 (Feb) Curtains of Pain Portrays pain’s ‘Curtains’ as a crucible of shared humanity and healing that dissolves race and fosters brotherhood.
1917 (Apr) The South Chronicles Southern industrial growth, Black labor and migration, and the racial violence shaping a new, fragile order.
1917 (Jun) The Second Coming Uses a prophetic allegory to expose white racial fear and envision Black emergence and social change.
1918 (Apr) The Boy Over There Mourns Black youth lost in WWI and calls the race to support its soldiers, condemning neglect and moral cowardice.
1919 (Jun) The Flight into Egypt Reimagines the Holy Family as Black refugees, exposing racial oppression and the quest for freedom.
1919 (Jun) Steve Mourns the dog Steve as an allegory for Russia’s revolution—loyalty, loss, and sacrificial hope.
1919 (Jun) The Gospel According to Mary Brown Retells Mary Brown’s parable to condemn racial violence and lynching, tying religious faith to labor and injustice.
1920 (Mar) Unrest Invokes divine intervention in a poem of social unrest, pleading for clarity amid racial and political turmoil.
1920 (Dec) Pontius Pilate Casts Pilate as complicit in racial injustice, condemning lynching and white supremacy’s mockery of justice.
1921 (Dec) Chamounix Meditates on Chamounix and Mont Blanc, making mountain and mist into spiritual forces that renew human wonder.
1921 (Dec) The Sermon in the Cradle Reimagines Christ born in Benin, affirming Black dignity, faith, and hope as resistance to racial oppression.
1923 (Jun) On Being Crazy Exposes everyday racial exclusion as irrational cruelty, using vignettes to critique white prejudice.
1924 (Mar) Sketches from Abroad Recounts travel sketches across Europe toward Africa, critiquing imperialism, whiteness, and noting Pan-African ties.
1924 (Apr) Little Portraits of Africa Celebrates Africa’s landscape, people, and spiritual culture and critiques the heavy cost of colonial civilizing labor.
1924 (Dec) The Temptation in the Wilderness Frames a Black man’s wilderness temptations as a moral struggle over bread, labor, power, race and spiritual dignity.
1928 (Apr) The House of the Black Burghardts Reflects in The Crisis (1928) on the House of the Black Burghardts, memory, and Black family roots in rural New England amid loss and longing.
1928 (Jun) So the Girl Marries Frames his daughter’s wedding as a symbolic assertion of Black education, tradition, and racial progress.
1928 (Jul) Visitors Analyzes how modern visitors disrupt labor in The Crisis (1928), urging respectful scheduling to balance work and human connection in democracy.
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