W.E.B. Du Bois

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American and Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, writer and editor - Wiki

1900 - Paris Exhibition

My interest in W.E.B. Du Bois stemmed from discovering the most beautiful "Data Portraits" being used to bring to life statistics to a mass audience. Du Bois was using engaging works of early graphic design to affect a change in perceptions of black people in America.
If we take a definition of Graphic Design in its simplest form - that of using type and image to communicate a message to an audience, then this is a perfect collection. It has been largely missed out from historical design books and has only really been recognised by the design world since about 2018 with the publication of W. E. B. Du Bois's Data Portraits - Visualizing Black America.

"The colorful charts, graphs, and maps presented at the 1900 Paris Exposition by famed sociologist and black rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois offered a view into the lives of black Americans, conveying a literal and figurative representation of "the color line." From advances in education to the lingering effects of slavery, these prophetic infographics —beautiful in design and powerful in content—make visible a wide spectrum of black experience."

Paris Exposition 1900

Final

Reading the Data Portraits and Black Lives books this led to me to - Du Bois' the "Souls of Black Folk" that he wrote in 1903 after his experience in Paris and attending the first Pan African conference in London both in 1900

The inclusion of a statue of Frederick Douglas led me to read his Narrative of the life of..

W. E. B. Du Bois's Data Portraits Visualizing Black America - 2018

BLACK LIVES 1900: W.E.B. Du Bois at the Paris Exposition - 2019

The Souls of Black Folk - W.E.B. Du Bois 1903

Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass 1845

Paris Exposition 1900

W.E.B. Du Bois - Paris Exposition 1900

Magazine 1900

Exhibition Pass 1900

Exhibition Plan

Discovering this exhibition plan for the "United States space in the Palace of social Engagement" on the banks of the Seine enabled me to make a scale model with an A3 basis for the diorama. It also revealed the right hand side and how many display cases it had which is missing from the photographs

Overview plan of the whole exposition

Plan of the room (bottom right)

This is the rotated camera angle and shows a small dark room to the left

Printing out the wall and floor plan for scale models

To create the diorama I had to find out what each of the exhibits were as the detail was blurred - I found this text http://www.webdubois.org/dbANParis.html as a description using language from the time -

"The Negro Exhibit in the Palace of Social Economy on the banks of the Seine is one of particular interest, in that it shows to the world the progress made by a race of but thirty years' freedom. This exhibit is successfully installed in a corner of the United States section, and among other objects consists chiefly of photographs of the Negro educational institutions of the United States. Booker T. Washington's school at Tuskegee, Ala., has on exhibition a very fine collection of work turned out at the school, consisting of wood-turning, joining, painting, graining, forging, harness-making, etc. A large portrait of Booker T. Washington hangs above the exhibit. Large pictures of the late Hon. B. K. Bruce, and Hon. Judson W. Lyons, the present Register of the Treasury, are here exhibited, together with two five-thousand-dollar government bonds, bearing the respective signatures of these distinguished colored gentlemen. Many books are here by colored authors. A series of charts giving statistics with reference to the status of the Negro in the United States, and especially in the state of Georgia, are neatly arranged in wing frames. These were prepared at Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga., under the direction of Prof. W. E. B. DuBois.

A bronze statuette of the Hon. Frederick Douglass is on exhibition, this being a facsimile of the statue to Douglass in Rochester, N. Y.

This collective exhibit has received a "grand prize."

Top Row

"A large portrait of Booker T. Washington hangs above the exhibit. Large pictures of the late Hon. B. K. Bruce, and Hon. Judson W. Lyons, the present Register of the Treasury, are here exhibited, together with two five-thousand-dollar government bonds, bearing the respective signatures of these distinguished colored gentlemen."

I found these images and some bonds from the era and recreated them in photoshop. The infographic on the top right is lost to the collection but it has been recreated by Jason Forrest

Booker T
Washington

Hon.
B. K. Bruce

Hon.
Judson W. Lyons

Middle Row of movable cases

"Booker T. Washington's school at Tuskegee, Ala., has on exhibition a very fine collection of work turned out at the school, consisting of wood-turning, joining, painting, graining, forging, harness-making, etc."

The panels were really difficult to replicate - I made the ones that were obvious but then improvised with some miniature tools and keys.

The box shaped panels appear to have photographs and some sort of grain crops in a side panel. One has glass vials - which i have filled with different sugars.

Final left hand panels

Final right hand panels

Bottom Row of display cases

The panel contents were not all available on the archive so I had to enhance the first and third image in photoshop.

The right hand panels I have chosen the most engaging images from the archive

Routes of the African slave trade

African American population distribution

Left panel I have used a photo of the statue of Frederick Douglas

Statue of Frederick Douglass

"A bronze statuette of the Hon. Frederick Douglass is on exhibition, this being a facsimile of the statue to Douglass in Rochester, N. Y."

A bronze statuette

"Architect" model people, plus clay coat and hair.

Clay and bronze paint stand

Clay and bronze aged paint

Frederick Douglass memorial

Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass 1845

Bookcases and Newspapers

I found this List of books and pamphlets that were included in the exhibition and looked up their original cover artwork. Some needed to be mocked up on photoshop adding spines to front covers and imagining the back cover.

These were then printed out and stuck along the spine of old magazines, cut with a knife. The edges were finished with gold and the cover varnished.