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Primary Sources

The Atlanta University Publications
These works, edited mostly by W.E.B. Du Bois, are highly significant because they represent systematic, social-scientific inquiries into the condition and lives of African Americans a century ago. They are also known as "The Atlanta University Studies."

The description posted with each publication below was copied from the information presented on the title page of that particular text. The U.S. Library of Congress also provides similar details. (You may search the LOC catalog using the search term "Atlanta University Publications", but do not include the double quotation marks in the 'Title' search field).

The University of Georgia Libraries maintains an Atlanta University Publications (AUP) menu page. The AUPs are part of the Libraries' Facsimile Books collection. The texts are both searchable and readable online in the DjVu format (see Viewing DjVu details below).

The W.E.B. Du Bois Library, at the University of Massachu- setts Amherst, provides many of the AUP works online. Visit the Library's Digital Du Bois page. Their files are in Adobe PDF format. (To obtain the free software for reading PDF files, visit the Adobe web site).

This web page is organized into several sections:
  * Primary Texts
  * Reviews
  * Related Works by W.E.B. Du Bois
  * Secondary Sources
  * Viewing DjVu
Clicking on the hyperlinks will relocate you to the corresponding section below.
Robert W. Williams  [Bio]



LATEST UPDATE (As of 10 February 2008)
A Secondary Source
A link to an anonymous note pertaining to AUP No. 5, The College-bred Negro, has been posted below.



THE PRIMARY TEXTS
No. 1: Mortality Among Negroes in Cities. 1896 [First edition: unabridged].
No editor listed. Proceedings of the Conference for Investigations of City Problems held at Atlanta University, May 26-27, 1896. Atlanta, GA: Atlanta University Press, 1896.
Note: Although this volume is not a primary source of DuBois', it is useful for its understanding of health issues at the time and because it resulted from the first in a series of Atlanta University conferences ultimately (co-)edited by Du Bois.
At the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/dubois/dubois1.pdf
No. 1: Mortality Among Negroes in Cities. 1903: Second Ed.--Abridged.
Edited by Thomas N. Chase. Proceedings of the Conference for Investigations of City Problems held at Atlanta University, May 26-27, 1896. Atlanta, GA: Atlanta University Press, 1903 [2nd edition]. [See "Note" for the unabridged first edition of AUP No. 1 (see above).]
History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=history.chapter.115
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup01/  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
No. 2: Social and Physical Condition Of Negroes in Cities. 1897.
No editor(s) listed. Report of an Investigation under the Direction of Atlanta University: And Proceedings of the Second Conference for the Study of Problems Concerning Negro City Life, Held at Atlanta University, May 25-26, 1897. Atlanta, GA. Atlanta University Press. 1897.
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup02/  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
At the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/dubois/dubois2.pdf
At Google Books [as PDF file]
http://books.google.com/...id=dEYUDoW38_EC  [the About-This-Book Page]
No. 3: Some Efforts of American Negroes For their Own Social Betterment. 1898.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois. Report of an Investigation under the Direction of Atlanta University; Together with the Proceedings of the Third Conference for the Study of the Negro Problems, held at Atlanta University, May 25-26, 1898. Atlanta, GA. Atlanta University Press, 1898.
At Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina
http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/duboisau/menu.html
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup03  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
At the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/dubois/dubois3.pdf
No. 4. The Negro in Business. 1899.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois. A report of a social study made under the direction of Atlanta university; together with the proceedings of the fourth Conference for the study of the Negro problems, held at Atlanta university, May 30-31, 1899. Atlanta, GA. Atlanta University Press, 1899.
At the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/dubois/dubois4.pdf
At Google Books [as PDF file]
http://books.google.com/...id=vNA8AAAAIAAJ  [the About-This-Book Page]
No. 5. The College-bred Negro. 1900.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois. Report of a Social Study Made under the Direction of Atlanta University; Together with the Proceedings of the Fifth Conference for the Study of the Negro Problems, Held at Atlanta University, May 29-30, 1900. Atlanta University Press. Atlanta, Georgia. 1900.
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup05  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
At Google Books [as PDF file]
http://books.google.com/...id=qm42AAAAMAAJ  [the About-This-Book Page]
No. 6. The Negro Common School. 1901.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois. Report of a social study made under the direction of Atlanta university; together with the proceedings of the sixth Conference for the study of the Negro problems, held at Atlanta university on May 28th, 1901. Atlanta, GA: Atlanta University Press. 1901.
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup06  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
No. 7. The Negro Artisan. 1902.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois. Report of a social study made under the direction of Atlanta university; together with the proceedings of the seventh Conference for the study of the Negro problems, held at Atlanta university on May 27th, 1902. Atlanta University Press, Atlanta, GA. 1902.
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup07  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
At the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/dubois/dubois7.pdf
No. 8. The Negro Church. 1903.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois. Report of a Social Study Made under the Direction of Atlanta University; Together with the Proceedings of the Eighth Conference for the Study of the Negro Problems, held at Atlanta University, May 26th, 1903. Atlanta University Press, Atlanta, GA. 1903.
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup08  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
At Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina
http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/negrochurch/menu.html
At the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/dubois/dubois8.pdf
No. 9. Some Notes on Negro Crime, Particularly in Georgia. 1904.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois. Report of a social study made under the direction of Atlanta University; together with the Proceedings of the Ninth Conference for the study of the Negro problems, held at Atlanta University, May 24, 1904. Atlanta University Press, Atlanta, GA. 1904.
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup09  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
At the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/dubois/dubois9.pdf
No. 10. A Select Bibliography of the Negro American. 1905.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois. A compilation made under the direction of Atlanta University; together with the Proceedings of the Tenth Conference for the study of the Negro problems, held at Atlanta University, May 30, 1905. Atlanta University Press, Atlanta, GA. 1905.
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup10  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
At the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/dubois/dubois10.pdf
No. 11. The Health and Physique of the American Negro. 1906.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois. Report of a social study made under the direction of Atlanta University; together with the Proceedings of the Eleventh Conference for the study of the Negro problems, held at Atlanta university, on May the 29th, 1906. Atlanta University Press, Atlanta, Georgia, 1906.
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup11  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
No. 12: Economic Co-operation among Negro Americans. 1907.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois. Report of a social study made by Atlanta University under the patronage of the Carnegie institution of Washington, D.C.; together with the Proceedings of the 12th Conference for the study of the Negro problems, held at Atlanta University, on Tuesday, May the 28th, 1907. Atlanta University Press, Atlanta, Georgia, 1907.
At Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina
http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/dubois07/menu.html
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup12  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
At the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/dubois/dubois12.pdf
No. 13. The Negro American Family. 1908.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois. Report of a Social Study made principally by the College Classes of 1909 and 1910 of Atlanta University, under the patronage of the Trustees of the John F. Slater Fund; together with the Proceedings of the 13th Annual Conference for the Study of the Negro Problems, held at Atlanta University on Tuesday, May the 26th, 1908. Atlanta University Press, Atlanta, Georgia, 1908.
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup13  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
At the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/dubois/dubois13.pdf
No. 14. Efforts for Social Betterment among Negro Americans. 1909.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois. Report of a social study made by Atlanta University under the patronage of the trustees of the John F. Slater fund; together with the Proceedings of the 14th annual Conference for the study of the Negro problems, held at Atlanta University, on Tuesday, May the 24th, 1909. Atlanta University Press, Atlanta, Georgia, 1909.
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup14  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
At the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/dubois/dubois14.pdf
At Google Books [as PDF file]
http://books.google.com/...id=sKkJAAAAIAAJ  [the About-This-Book Page]
[Starts at digital p. 9 within a 32M file containing AUPs 14 through 18]
No. 15. The College-bred Negro American. 1910.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois and Augustus Granville Dill. Report of a social study made by Atlanta University under the patronage of the trustees of the John F. Slater fund; together with the Proceedings of the 15th annual Conference for the study of the Negro problems, held at Atlanta University, on Tuesday, May the 24th, 1910. Atlanta University Press, Atlanta, GA. 1910.
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup15  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
At the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/dubois/dubois15.pdf
At Google Books [and contained within a 32meg PDF file entitled Efforts for Social Betterment (i.e., AUP 14)]
http://books.google.com/...id=sKkJAAAAIAAJ  [the About-This-Book Page]
[Starts at digital p. 146 within a file that also includes AUPs 14, 16, 17, & 18]
No. 16. The Common School and the Negro American. 1911.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois and Augustus Granville Dill. Report of a social study made by Atlanta University under the patronage of the trustees of the John F. Slater fund; with the Proceedings of the 16th annual Conference for the study of the Negro problems, held at Atlanta University, on Tuesday, May 30th, 1911. Atlanta University Press, Atlanta, GA. 1911.
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup16  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
At Google Books [and contained within a 32meg PDF file entitled Efforts for Social Betterment (i.e., AUP 14)]
http://books.google.com/...id=sKkJAAAAIAAJ  [the About-This-Book Page]
[Starts at digital p. 252 within a file that also includes AUPs 14, 15, 17, & 18]
No. 17. The Negro American Artisan. 1912.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois and Augustus Granville Dill. Report of a social study made by Atlanta University under the patronage of the trustees of the John F. Slater fund; with the Proceedings of the 17th annual Conference for the study of the Negro problems, held at Atlanta University, on Monday, May 27th, 1912. Atlanta University Press, Atlanta, GA. 1912.
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup17  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
At the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/dubois/dubois17.pdf
At Google Books [and contained within a 32meg PDF file entitled Efforts for Social Betterment (i.e., AUP 14)]
http://books.google.com/...id=sKkJAAAAIAAJ  [the About-This-Book Page]
[Starts at digital p. 394 within a file that also includes AUPs 14, 15, 16, & 18]
No. 18. Morals and Manners among Negro Americans. 1914.
Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois and Augustus Granville Dill. Report of a social study made by Atlanta University under the patronage of the trustees of the John F. Slater fund; with the Proceedings of the 18th annual Conference for the study of the Negro problems, held at Atlanta University, on Monday, May 26th, 1913. Atlanta University Press, Atlanta, GA. 1914.
At Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina
http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/morals/menu.html
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup18  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
At the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/dubois/dubois18.pdf
At Google Books [and contained within a 32meg PDF file entitled Efforts for Social Betterment (i.e., AUP 14)]
http://books.google.com/...id=sKkJAAAAIAAJ  [the About-This-Book Page]
[Starts at digital p. 542 within a file that also includes AUPs 14, 15, 16, & 17]
No. 19. Economic Co-operation among the Negroes of Georgia. 1917.
Edited by Thomas I. Brown. Report of a social study made by Atlanta University; with the Proceedings of the Twenty-second annual Conference for the study of the Negro problems, held at Atlanta University, on Monday, May the 28th, 1917. Atlanta University Press, Atlanta, GA. 1917.
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup19  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
No. 20. Select Discussions of Race Problems. 1916.
Edited by J. A. Bigham (John Alvin). A Collection of Papers of Especial Use in Study of Negro American Problems; with the Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Conference for Study of Negro Problems, held at Atlanta University, May 24, 1915. Atlanta, Ga., The Atlanta University Press, 1916.
Note: Although AUP No. 20 states its publication date as 1916, AUP No. 19 has a publication date of 1917.
Contents: AUP No. 20 contains the following essays (most of which were published initially in other places):
*  Frederick H. Means, "A Review of the Atlanta University Conferences and Social Studies" [an original essay];
I.  W.E.B. Du Bois, "Races of Men" [Reprinted from AUP No. 11];
II.  Felix von Luschan, "Anthropological View of Race";
III.  Franklin P. Mall, "Anatomical Characters of the Human Brain";
IV.  R.S. Woodworth, "Racial Differences in Mental Traits";
V.  W.I. Thomas, "The Mind of the Savage";
VI.  Franz Boas, "Old African Civilizations";
VII.  Alexander F. Chamberlain, "The Contribution of the Negro to Human Civilization"; and
VIII.  Franz Boas, "Race Problems in the United States".
At The University of Georgia Libraries
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E185x5xA881p/aup20  [DjVu format; see Viewing DjVu]
At the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/dubois/dubois20.pdf
No. 21 of the Atlanta University Publications may NOT have been published.
[This information derives from the Library of Congress' online catalog entry for the series, Atlanta University Publications.]
Nos. 22-23. Conference of Negro Land-Grant Colleges for Co-ordinating a Program of Cooperative Social Studies. 1943-1944.
Atlanta, Ga., The Atlanta University Press, n.d.
[This information was extracted from the Library of Congress' online catalog entry.]
This document is not available online.
No. 24. Negro Business and Business Education: Their Present and Prospective Development. 1947.
Edited by Joseph A. Pierce. New York, Harper, 1947.
[This text has been identified by the Library of Congress as part of the series, Atlanta University Publications, no. 24. See LOC's catalog entry and access the "Text (Full information)" from the "Save, Print or Email Records" menu at the bottom of the page.]
This document is not available online.



REVIEWS
David McCowin's Review of The Negro Church. 1903. [AUP Nr. 8.]
David J. McCowin. "Review of W.E.B. Du Bois, ed., The Negro Church: Report of a Social Study Made under the Direction of Atlanta University." McCowin reviewed the reprint of the 1903 edition with an introduction by Phil Zuckerman, Sandra L. Barnes, and Daniel Cady. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press, 2003.
Anon. Review of The Negro American Artisan. 1914. [AUP Nr. 17.]
No author was listed for a brief review published as a "Book Notice" in The Journal of Political Economy (Vol. 22, No. 4 (April 1914): 404). The review in its entirety is presented below:
 The Negro American Artisan. Edited by W. E. B. Du Bois. (Atlanta University
       Publications, No. 17) Atlanta Ga.: Atlanta University Press, 1912. 12mo,
       paper, pp.144. $0.75.
     This is a report of a social study made by Atlanta University under the patronage of the trustees of the John F. Slater Fund. A previous study and report was made in 1902, and issued as Bulletin No. 7 of the "Atlanta University Publications." The present bulletin, dealing the negro American artisan, gives first a very valuable bibliography relating to the social and economic life of the negro. It then discusses briefly such subjects as "The African Artisan, "The ante-Bellum [sic] Negro Artisan," "The Economics of Emancipation," "The Occupation of Negroes," by sections and states, "The Negro and Organized Labor," The Training of Negro American Artisans"," and "The Economic Future of the Negro American." The subjects reveal the nature of the publication. Such studies cannot but render great aid in attacking the perplexities of the negro problem.
 [Note: "Negro" was not capitalized in the original text. Also: in the passage rendered above, an attempt was made to recreate the indentation of the original; however, the full-page justification for each line of the text was not recreated.]
 [Citation: Anonymous. 1914. Review of The Negro American Artisan, Edited by W.E.B. Du Bois. Journal of Political Economy, 22:4 (April): 404.]



RELATED WORKS BY W.E.B. DU BOIS
"The Laboratory in Sociology at Atlanta University" by W.E.B. Du Bois. 1903. Originally published in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 21 (May 1903).
"The Atlanta Conferences" by W.E.B. Du Bois. 1904. The essay was originally published in Voice of the Negro, Vol. 1 (March 1904): 85-89.
Page on this web site with the full text and annotations
http://www.webdubois.org/dbAtlantaConfs.html



SECONDARY SOURCES
An anonymous notice on the issue of African American education that was published in Gunton's Magazine (April 1900) within the section entitled "Civic and Educational Notes". The full text is presented below in its entirety:
  Higher
Education
for Negroes
 Professor Du Bois, of the Department of Economics and History in Atlanta University, is taking steps to find out the practical results of higher education of negroes. It is no uncommon thing in the South to find bitter opposition to even ordinary education for negroes. The argument is that it makes them discontented and unwilling to work at the only occupations open to the colored race in that section ; social distinction restricting them to rough labor and personal service. There is truth in this, yet Booker T. Washington has been proving for several years that negroes who are really equipped with industrial skill, decent habits and willingness to work can make headway and break down prejudice against them, and do not have to come North for that purpose, either.
      Several southern states have tried lately to adopt a scheme whereby only the monies collected from colored taxpayers shall be applied to the education of colored children. Of course this would be a very neat way of depriving negroes of all educational opportunities, but it seems unlikely that southern public sentiment will sustain any such preposterous trick. With reference to higher education the antagonism is more pronounced and outspoken. You will hear it denounced as simply the means of turning out a stream of colored preachers, lawyers and doctors who scorn to touch a shovel or a hoe and become loafers and general nuisances. Cases can be cited that sustain this, no doubt ; but for the most part it is an absurd exaggeration.
      Professor Du Bois now intends to collect data on the subject, so that the truth one way or the other may be known and made available for future discussions. He is sending out blanks all over the country, so far as college-bred negroes can be traced, and to all persons and institutions that are likely to have any knowledge of such negroes. These blanks are to be filled out in detail, showing the early life, occupations since graduation, present occupation, instances of special success, et cetera. Whoever has any personal knowledge of a college-bred negro can help this work along by sending to Professor W. E. B. Du Bois, Atlanta University, for one of these blanks and returning it with the information filled in. If the responses are at all general it will be a very valuable accomplishment. If higher education for negroes is a success, the fact needs to be known and made known ; and if it is a failure that needs to be known too, and more effort devoted to something else.

 Note 1: "Negro" was not capitalized in the original. Also, an attempt was made to preserve the indented quality of the heading/title.
 Note 2: The citation to this notice is: Anonymous. "Higher Education for Negroes." Gunton's Magazine, v.18 (April 1900): pp. 358-359.
 Note 3: This passage was referring to DuBoisan research that was eventually published as Atlanta University Publication No. 5: The College-bred Negro (1900).
I draw our attention to the last two sentences of the piece. The author acknowledged the importance of social-science research whose findings were generalizable. However, what was the "something else" that the author suggested could be pursued if African-American higher education was not a success? Indeed, what would count as success or failure? How might Du Bois have responded to that last sentence?

Download page for the complete Volume 18 of Gunton's Magazine
http://www.archive.org/details/guntonsmagazine18guntuoft  [Internet Archive]
"W.E.B. Du Bois and the Atlanta Sociological Laboratory" by Earl Wright II. At Atlanta University Du Bois established, as Wright argues, what was likely the first school of American sociology. Wright discusses the tenets of a "sociological school" and applies them to the Atlanta Sociological Laboratory.
At Sociation Today, Vol.3, No.1 (Spring 2005) [the online academic journal
of the North Caroina Sociological Association]
http://www.ncsociology.org/sociationtoday/v31/wright.htm



VIEWING DjVu
The Atlanta University Publications accessible at the the University of Georgia Libraries site (AUP menu page) are in the DjVu format. To read DjVu files online will require the installation of a free browser plug-in for Mac, Unix, or Windows-based web browsers. DjVu is available for other platforms (another DjVu browser plug-in site).
The DjVu files also can be downloaded to one's computer for reading offline. WinDjView and MacDjView are stand-alone viewers. Those programs are available at SourceForge.net's WinDjView site.
Please note that Robert W. Williams neither endorses nor guarantees any of the DjVu-related software or plug-ins mentioned here. Moreover, R.W. Williams is not responsible in any way for any problems encountered during the installation or use of DjVu-related software or plug-ins. The details contained herein are presented solely for the sake of convenience.




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