Du Bois, W. E. B. [American sociologist, author, writer and editor, 1868-1963] ca. 22 x 28 inches

Harlem Renaissance Charts [graphic documents] African Americans 1890 1890 https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218184/files/P_149431.tif https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218184/files/P_149431.hocr https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218184/files/P_149431.txt Du Bois, W. E. B. [American sociologist, author, writer and editor, 1868-1963] ca. 22 x 28 inches

Harlem Renaissance Charts [graphic documents] African Americans 1890 1890 Present dwelling place of Negroes born in Georgia [top]. Birth place of Negroes now resident in Georgia [bottom]. https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218185/files/P_149432.tif https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218185/files/P_149432.hocr https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218185/files/P_149432.txt Du Bois, W. E. B. [American sociologist, author, writer and editor, 1868-1963] ca. 22 x 28 inches

Harlem Renaissance Charts [graphic documents] African Americans 1890 1890 Plate 11 : Part bar chart, part line chart, and part spiral graph, this visualization defies categorization. The text paired with each segment reads more like a narrative than a typical key. Its tricolor palette and fragmentary construction make for a memorable, and experimental, presentation of data. https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218186/files/P_149434.tif https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218186/files/P_149434.hocr https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218186/files/P_149434.txt Du Bois, W. E. B. [American sociologist, author, writer and editor, 1868-1963] ca. 22 x 28 inches

Harlem Renaissance Charts [graphic documents] African Americans 1890 1890 Plate 16 : No chart in the entire set is as graphically simple as this one: four monochromatic circles float in a solitary column, each slightly larger than the previous one. There is no key, just two sets of numbers. The number below the circle represents the year that the data was measured, and the number inside the circle represents the number of black teachers in Georgia public schools that year. This is one of three rare moments in the infographics when both the shape and the typography appear in color. The overall result reinforces the designers’ interest in representing an exhaustive amount of information in an efficient and elegant way. https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218187/files/P_149435.tif https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218187/files/P_149435.hocr https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218187/files/P_149435.txt Du Bois, W. E. B. [American sociologist, author, writer and editor, 1868-1963] 22 x 28 inches

Color charts Graphs African Americans 1899 1899 Done by Atlanta University https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218454/files/P_149858.tif https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218454/files/P_149858.hocr https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218454/files/P_149858.txt Du Bois, W. E. B. [American sociologist, author, writer and editor, 1868-1963] ca. 22 x 28 inches

Harlem Renaissance Charts [graphic documents] African Americans 1890 1890 Plate 53 : This complex grid, area chart, and bar chart is a vibrating combination of color and shape. Split down the middle into "males" and "females," each half of the nearly symmetrical chart is further broken down by color-coded grids: a green zone for widows and widowers, a red zone for married couples, and a blue zone for single people - the data set is closely related to plate 10. The typography is laid out with a tight structure around the outside of the colored matrix. However, inside the grid, type is set at dynamic angles in a manner that would later become a hallmark of 1920s Russian constructivism and the 1960s conceptual text-based art of Lawrence Weiner. Here, similar to Weiner's body of work, a distinct rigid typographic treatment is used as an image to reinforce a repeated conceptual motif. https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218189/files/P_149437.tif https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218189/files/P_149437.hocr https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218189/files/P_149437.txt Du Bois, W. E. B. [American sociologist, author, writer and editor, 1868-1963] ca. 22 x 28 inches

Harlem Renaissance Charts [graphic documents] African Americans 1890 1890 Plate 57 : A jumble of squares defies viewer expectations in a chart depicting the relative number of black men in a range of occupations. Though not arranged alphabetically or by descending density, the unusual spatial configuration uses surface area and dynamic color to reflect imbalances in the representation of men in various fields. https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218190/files/P_149438.tif https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218190/files/P_149438.hocr https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218190/files/P_149438.txt Du Bois, W. E. B. [American sociologist, author, writer and editor, 1868-1963] 22 x 28 inches

Color charts Graphs Harlem Renaissance African Americans 1899 1899 This case is devoted to a series of charts, maps and other devices designed to illustrate the development of the American Negro in a single typical state of the United States. 'The Problem of the 20th Century is the problem of the color-line." https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218430/files/P_149443.tif https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218430/files/P_149443.hocr https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218430/files/P_149443.txt Du Bois, W. E. B. [American sociologist, author, writer and editor, 1868-1963] 22 x 28 inches

Color charts Graphs Harlem Renaissance African Americans 1899 1899 Plate 2 : Du Bois and his team are masters of progressive disclosure, a technique that gradually reveals to the viewer the ideal amount of information in each data portrait. 9 Moving from a global scale to a national one, this map of the United States contributes more detail to the previous plate’s mapping of the Black Atlantic world (see plate 1). A palette of bright primary colors, complementing subtle shades, and intricate textures conveys a range of black populations at a quick glance. An even more precise breakdown of population continues at the state and county levels in the subsequent charts (plates 3– 6). https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218431/files/P_149444.tif https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218431/files/P_149444.hocr https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218431/files/P_149444.txt Du Bois, W. E. B. [American sociologist, author, writer and editor, 1868-1963] 22 x 28 inches

Color charts Graphs Harlem Renaissance African Americans 1899 1899 Plate 5. Many of the diagrams are sequenced strategically to build comparisons and new perspectives on the study’s datasets by considering relationships over time as well as space. This population index of Georgia by Counties, 1890 precedes the following map (plate 6), which shows the populations in 1870 and 1880. The vibrancy and opacity of the colors suggest the use of gouache, a subtype of watercolor that lies down with an opaque finish and bonds with its paper background. This material would later be critical to the flat and graphic visual language taught by the so-called Swiss schools in 1950s and 1960s Europe and spread throughout American graphic design education, especially via Armin Hoffman and his former students from the Basel School of Design. https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218432/files/P_149445.tif https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218432/files/P_149445.hocr https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218432/files/P_149445.txt Du Bois, W. E. B. [American sociologist, author, writer and editor, 1868-1963] 22 x 28 inches

Color charts Graphs Harlem Renaissance African Americans 1899 1899 Plate 6 : The pair of state maps rendered here are an early example of a type of diagram taken for granted today: the heat map. Heat maps use color to allow a user to quickly identify highly active, dense, or concentrated parts of a space. First coined and trademarked in 1993 by Cormac Kinney, an enterprising software engineer, the heat map was a tool that used concentrations of color to represent wild swings in stock and mutual fund trading activity. 11 Here, instead of marking the flow of funds, Du Bois maps the density of black Georgians across the state’s counties. https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218433/files/P_149446.tif https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218433/files/P_149446.hocr https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218433/files/P_149446.txt Du Bois, W. E. B. [American sociologist, author, writer and editor, 1868-1963] 22 x 28 inches

Color charts Graphs Harlem Renaissance African Americans 1899 1899 Plate 9 : In this chart, Du Bois and his team choose to render data that could connect with an international audience. This straightforward yellow and black bar graph compares the ages of black Americans with their French equivalents of all races. Of particular note are the unique percentage signs that visually outweigh their numerical companions. These glyphs were likely improvised because standard alphabetic characters are not included in the engineered letter template that is the source of most of the typography in the Georgia study. 13 Age ranges are linked to the bar charts with delicate and precise curving braces. The placement of Europeans and Georgia Negroes side by side using comparative data demonstrates the global status and robustness of the African American population. https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218434/files/P_149447.tif https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218434/files/P_149447.hocr https://rdc.reed.edu/record/218434/files/P_149447.txt