W.E.B. Du Bois’s data visualizations advanced rights
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W.E.B. Du Bois, an American pioneer in anti-racist thought and sociology, created hand-drawn charts and graphs to showcase the progress of African Americans.
He prepared these visualizations for the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris. Du Bois compiled over 300 photographs of African American people and objects, alongside approximately 60 infographic panels. These panels detailed the economic and cultural advancements African Americans made after slavery ended in the United States in 1865.
The visualizations aimed to counter prevailing stereotypes by presenting data on African American life. A video created in partnership with the 2026 Data Night at the École normale supérieure explains how Du Bois’s work spread an anti-racist message globally and left a mark on its time.
