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ecently freed black American in the mainstreamof American society — was outlined in hisfamous Atlanta Exposition Address (1895).W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963)Born in New England and educated at HarvardUniversity and the University of Berlin (Germany),W.E.B. Du Bois authored “Of Mr. Booker T.Washington and Others,” an essay later collectedin his landmark book The Souls of Black Folk(1903). Du Bois carefully demonstrates thatdespite his many accomplishments, Washingtonhad, in effect, accepted segregation — that is,the unequal and separate treatment of blackAmericans — and that segregation would inevitablylead to inferiority, particularly in education.Du Bois, a founder of the NationalAssociation for the Advancement of ColoredPeople (NAACP), also wrote sensitive appreciationsof the African-American traditions and culture;his work helped black intellectuals rediscovertheir rich folk literature and music.James Weldon Johnson(1871-1938)Like Du Bois, the poet James Weldon Johnsonfound inspiration in African-American spirituals.His poem “O Black and Unknown Bards” (1917)asks:Heart of what slave poured out such melodyAs “Steal Away to Jesus?” On its strainsHis spirit must have nightly floated free,Though still about his hands he felt his chains.Of mixed white and black ancestry, Johnsonexplored the complex issue of race in his fictionalAutobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912),about a mixed-race man who “passes” (is accepted)for white. The book effectively conveysthe black American’s concern with issues of identityin America.Charles Waddell Chesnutt (1858-1932)Charles Waddell Chesnutt, author of two collectionsof stories, The Conjure Woman (1899)and The Wife of His Youth (1899), several novels,including The Marrow of Tradition (1901), and abiography of Frederick Douglass, was ahead ofhis time. His stories dwell on racial themes, butavoid predictable endings and generalized sentiment;his characters are distinct individuals withcomplex attitudes about many things, includingrace. Chesnutt often shows the strength of theblack community and affirms ethical values andracial solidarity.■59