Making a Case for W.E.B. Du Bois as a Proto-Afrofuturist

Du Bois encompasses both the mundane and the fantastical aspects of Afrofuturism in the praxis of his life’s work.

Image: W.E.B. Du Bois’ City and Rural Population data visualization (1890). Photo: Library of Congress.

The term Afrofuturism evokes a stellar litany: musicians Sun Ra and George Clinton along with novelists Octavia Butler and Samuel R. Delany. While in its early 1990’s debut…