A "MONUMENTAL EVENT… THE ONLY INSTANCE OF WASHINGTON AND DU BOIS WRITING TOGETHER": FIRST EDITION OF THE NEGRO AND THE SOUTH, 1907, FEATURING KEY WORKS BY BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND W.E.B. DU BOIS TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST AND ONLY TIME IN THEIR LIVES

WASHINGTON, Booker T., DU BOIS, W.E.Burghardt. The Negro in the South. His Economic Progress in Relation to His Moral and Religious Development. Being the William Levi Bull Lectures for the Year 1907. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs, (1907). Octavo, original navy cloth.

First edition of the first and only book with works by Washington and Du Bois to appear in their lifetimes, an important volume that "has all but disappeared from the historical record," with Washington's pivotal two lectures on the economic developments of African Americans in the South before and after the Civil War, and Du Bois' two major lectures on the politics of race in the economic and religious practices in the South, in original gilt-lettered cloth.

Given that W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington famously held opposing views, this is one of the few works to identify them as co-authors and to offer contributing works from each leader. The Negro in the South contains four lectures—two by Washington and two by Du Bois—that were delivered as part of the 1907 William Levi Bull lectures. "Washington's two lectures appear first, then Du Bois'. In his first lecture, Washington suggested that "slavery was the cause of some African American's achieving success once they were out of slavery—that the skills developed as slaves had provided them with the training necessary in industry." In his second lecture… Washington urged blacks to accept labor as the key to success… In both addresses, Washington referred to the Tuskegee model to develop his ideas."

Du Bois' lectures "stand in stark contrast to Washington's." In his first lecture, he argued "that slavery left the agrarian South well out of step with an international industrial economy. Du Bois saw full political participation by blacks as necessary for the South to complete economically and called for an end to the post-Civil War system of serfdom that replaced slavery." His second lecture criticized white Southern churches, "saying that whites both forced blacks from their congregations and also denied them opportunities to organize churches of their own. This lecture was largely developed from Du Bois' The Negro Church (1902)." Negro in the South, which contains the "only instance of Washington and Du Bois writing together, has all but disappeared from the historical record, so much so that neither mentioned the lectures in his papers, and few biographers have recorded the monumental event" (Encyclopedia of African American History, 470). Reverend William Levi Bull endowed and established his lecture series to "secure the free, frank and full consideration of… Christian principles to the social, industrial and economic problems of the time." Containing "Published, June, 1907" on copyright page. With preface featuring Reverend Bull's "Letter Establishing the Lectureship"; without scarce dust jacket. Blockson 9769. Owner signature.

Interior fine, inner hinges expertly repaired, wear to original cloth particularly to head of spine. An extremely good copy.