W. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. DuBois's sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Du Bois was also a prolific author of novels, autobiographical accounts, innumerable editorials and journalistic pieces, and several works of history.
The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America, 1638-1870, W. E. B. Du Bois's groundbreaking monograph, recounts the moral failures and missed opportunities of the American Revolution and the consequences of compromising with slavery. As Du Bois's first published work and doctoral dissertation, Suppression lays the groundwork for his early commitment to the study of the African American experience. At the time of its publication in 1896, Du Bois's monograph was at the forefront of developments in historiography, embodying a new, empirical approach to history. Suppression is integral to understanding Du Bois's early theories and his evolution into a leading scholar and activist. With a series introduction by editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and an introduction by Saidiya Hartman, this edition is essential for anyone interested in African American history.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He has edited several major reference works, including Dictionary of African Biography, African American Lives, Africana, and African American National Biography. In addition, he is Editor in Chief of the Oxford African American Studies Center (www.oxfordaasc.com).

Series Introduction: The Black Letters on the Sign
Introduction
Preface
Introductory
The Planting Colonies
The Farming Colonies
The Trading Colonies
The Period of the Revolution, 1774-1787
The Federal Convention, 1787
Toussaint L'Overture and Anti-Slavery Effort, 1787-1806
The Period of Attempted Suppression, 1807-1825
The International Status of the Slave-Trade, 1783-1862
The Rise of the Cotton Kingdom, 1820-1850
The Final Crisis, 1850-1870
The Essentials in the Struggle
Appendix A: A Chronological Conspectus of Colonial and State Legislation Restricting the African Slave-Trade, 1641-1787
Appendix B: A Chronological Conspectus of State, National, and International Legislation, 1788-1871
Appendix C: Typical Cases of Vessels Engaged in the American Slave-Trade, 1619-1864
Appendix D: Biblography
Index
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois: A Chronology
Selected Bibliography