William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, Dusk of Dawn

Elizabeth Rodrigues (Grinnell College)
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Dusk of Dawn: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept (1940) is W.E.B. Du Bois’s first book-length autobiographical work. In the “Apology” that opens Dusk, Du Bois describes it as the third of “three sets of thought centering around the hurts and hesitancies that hem the black man in America” (xxiii). He names the two prior “sets of thought” as The Souls of Black Folk (1903) and Darkwater: Voices From Within the Veil (1920). These works included autobiographical essays alongside short fiction and essays of political commentary and historical analysis. Du Bois insistently contextualized his life story within historical, political, and cultural frames …

2814 words

Citation: Rodrigues, Elizabeth. "Dusk of Dawn". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 October 2022 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5478, accessed 10 December 2024.]

5478 Dusk of Dawn 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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