ABSTRACT
Founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was a sociologist, economist, historian, and journalist. His work continues to inspire anti-racism and critical race theory. When in 1903 Du Bois famously wrote, “The problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line,” he dedicated his career to documenting the problem. Fifty years later, he was asked whether he still subscribed to that view. In his response in 1953, he focused on whiteness without identifying it as such, yet his communication of its broad effects is unequivocal here.
