Visitors to the 1900 Paris Exposition would have had the opportunity to view an extraordinary display of photographs, charts, publications and other items meant to demonstrate the progress and resilience of African Americans in the United States, only a few decades after the abolition of slavery. The materials were assembled by African American intellectuals Thomas J. Calloway, W. E. B. Du Bois and Daniel A. P. Murray.
These exhibit materials are in the collections of the Library of Congress, where the Prints & Photographs Division holds the photographs and charts compiled by Du Bois. The charts, created by an Atlanta University-based team led by Du Bois, visually communicate aspects of the African American experience over time, some of them looking at the United States as a whole and others at the state of Georgia as a case study. Du Bois was creative in his data visualization techniques. The chart below shows the proportions of African Americans who lived in cities of various sizes, and those who lived in the country. The largest category by far — African Americans living in “the country and villages” — is shown as a large red coil, while the other categories are shown as less eye-catching straight lines.