Exhibition: W.E.B. Du Bois: Charting Black Lives

The infographics created by sociologist and activist W.E.B. Du Bois in 1900 were a remarkable development in data visualisation and a direct challenge to institutional racism.

His modern designs used striking shapes and bold primary colours to present essential research on the achievements of African Americans since Emancipation. Exhibited at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, these 60 charts and maps visually communicated what Du Bois described as “the problem of the colour line” in turn-of-the-century America to an international audience.