Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W.E.B. Du Bois (Verso, 2021)

The 2021 paperback edition of Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W.E.B. Du Bois, published by Verso Books, updates its design to prominently feature Tré Seals’ Du Bois typeface. The choice is very appropriate given that the face is based on the lettering used on infographics that Du Bois and his students in Atlanta created for the Paris Exposition in 1900. The circular typographic treatment in the center behind the title also elegantly references the forms of one of the infographics.

Verso Books calls this book “essential reading for students of African-American history”. The publisher’s blurb describes the book:

The distinguished American civil rights leader, W. E. B. Du Bois first published these fiery essays, sketches, and poems individually nearly 80 years ago in the Atlantic, the Journal of Race Development, and other periodicals. Part essay, part autobiography, Darkwater explicitly addresses significant issues, such as the oppression of women and Eurocentric standards of beauty, the historical rise of the idea of whiteness, and the abridgement of democracy along race, class, and gender lines. Reflecting the author’s ideas as a politician, historian, and artist, this volume has long moved and inspired readers with its militant cry for social, political, and economic reforms for black Americans.