W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was a leading US sociologist, Pan-Africanist, civil rights activist, and a prolific and highly influential author. The focus of this talk will be on the complicated legacies that he left to his readers. It will examine his “silly romances,” the moments when he engages with romance and speculative fiction. It will take up the larger issue of how we was read, in order more broadly to critique assumptions about African American reading habits of the period in which he wrote, and to expose a critical blindness to the power of certain genres to advance arguments that are beyond the scope of ordinary political discourse. Such a project is particularly important for a writer like Du Bois who is so thoroughly defined by political signifiers that fail to capture his political imagination.

Matthew X. Vernon is an Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of California, Davis and the author of The Black Middle Ages. He has also written articles on Gerald of Wales, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Captain America and Daredevil.