Born in Massachusetts in 1868, W. E. B. Du Bois was the foremost African American intellectual of the first half of the twentieth century. Educated at Harvard and in Europe, he was a voice for Black pride and organization at a time when Black Africans all over the world were enslaved, colonized, or discriminated against. In 1903 he published the classic book for which he is most remembered, The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches. A groundbreaking study of the African American community from a sociological perspective, the book outlines for both Black and white readers the position of African Americans at the turn of the twentieth century. The Souls of Black Folk was above all a repudiation of the views of Booker T. Washington, at the time the United States’ most prominent African American figure. During a speech in 1895, Washington defined what became known as the “Atlanta Compromise,” urging Black Americans to accept segregation for the moment and pursue economic equality before trying to gain political and social equality. Washington stated: “In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” Du Bois, in contrast, urged African Americans to develop a “Black consciousness” based on an appreciation of their own unique art, culture, religious views, and history and to continue to pursue civil rights and equality with whites.