A modern take on a DuBois data visualisation [2018]

For the course: Technologies of representation at Georgia Tech.

In 1900, Du Bois and his students at Atlanta University created over 60 visually vibrant and captivating data visualisations that presented the state of Black Life in America. Du Bois exhibited these at the 1900 World’s fair held in Paris, France. The illustrations were all hand- drawn and part of what he called the “Exhibit of American Negroes” (Hyperallergic, 2016). The exhibition was a proud display of the progress that African Americans had made since the abolition of slavery, appropriately presented at the turn of the century. In this project my group and I chose to recreate the visualisation that presents the proportion of white and black people in different classes of occupation in the United States. This visualisation was of interest as it was a simplistic visualisation with much to say.

The original data visualisation that the redesign is based on, is from the World Fair in Paris, France in 1900 showing the ”Proportion of Whites and Negroes in different classes of occupation in the United States”. See original at: http:// www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/anedub/item/2013650371/