The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study

W. E. B. Du Bois

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press 2023

The Philadelphia Negro

A Social Study

W. E. B. Du Bois
With contributions by: Elijah Anderson and Isabel Eaton

https://doi.org/10.9783/9781512824377

Overview
Contents

About this book

The first example of engaged sociological scholarship, and one of a major American thinker’s earliest works, with a newly updated introduction by Elijah Anderson

In 1897 the promising young sociologist William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868–1963) was given a temporary post as Assistant in Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania in order to conduct a systematic investigation of social conditions in the seventh ward of Philadelphia. The product of those studies was the first great empirical book on the Negro in American society.

More than one hundred years after its original publication by the University of Pennsylvania Press, The Philadelphia Negro remains a classic work. It is the first, and perhaps still the finest, example of engaged sociological scholarship—the kind of work that, in contemplating social reality, helps to change it.

In his introduction, Elijah Anderson examines how the neighborhood studied by Du Bois has changed over the years and compares the status of blacks today with their status when the book was initially published.

Author / Editor information

W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian and civil rights activist who served as editor of the NAACP's journal Crisis. His seminal works include The Souls of Black Folks; Black Reconstruction in America; and Dusk of Dawn, among many others.

Elijah Anderson is the Sterling Professor of Sociology and of African American Studies at Yale University.

Reviews

"What made Du Bois's study remarkable in its day was its rejection of prevailing assumptions of inherent racial differences, thus bearing on issues much wider than those indicated by its title. It is also notable as a thoroughly modern piece of social research. The problems faced by Philadelphia's blacks, he argued, had nothing to do with their supposed racial proclivities, but derived from the way they had been treated in the past and their relegation in the present to the most menial and lowest-paying jobs."

"A century ago, Du Bois published The Philadelphia Negro, a work now recognized as a sociological classic. He developed a highly detailed portrait of black social life in Philadelphia. Part of the legacy of his analysis has lost the theoretical holism which linked structural issues of the economy and labor market dynamics to more social psychological and microsocial issues of prejudice and interpersonal discrimination. Sociology would do well to revisit the model Du Bois established."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
TABLE OF CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
INTRODUCTION TO THE 2023 EDITION OF THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO Elijah Anderson Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
MAPS Publicly Available Download PDF	xxxi
THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO
Chapter I. The Scope of This Study Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter II. The Problem Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	5
Chapter III. The Negro in Philadelphia, 1638-1820 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	10
Chapter IV: The Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
Chapter V. The Size, Age and Sex of the Negro Population Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
Chapter VI. Conjugal Condition Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
Chapter VII. Sources of the Negro Population Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
Chapter VIII. Education and Illiteracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
Chapter IX. The Occupation of Negroes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
Chapter X. The Health of Negroes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
Chapter XI. The Negro Family Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
Chapter XII. The Organized Life of Negroes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Chapter XIII. The Negro Criminal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Chapter XIV. Pauperism and Alcoholism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269
Chapter XV. The Environment of the Negro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	287
Chapter XVI. The Contact of the Races Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	322
Chapter XVII. Negro Suffrage Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	368
Chapter XVIII. A Final Word Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	385
APPENDICES
Appendix A. Schedules used in the house-to-house inquiry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	400
Appendix B. Legislation, etc., of Pennsylvania in regard to the Negro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	411
Appendix C. Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	419
SPECIAL REPORT ON NEGRO DOMESTIC SERVICE IN THE SEVENTH WARD Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	424
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	511