Who authored The Souls of Black Folk and articulated double consciousness?

• A. W. E. B. Du Bois
• B. Booker T. Washington
• C. Frederick Douglass
• D. Langston Hughes

Answer: (A)

Double consciousness describes the experience of Black Americans living with two sometimes conflicting perspectives—one rooted in Black identity and culture, the other shaped by a white-dominated society that often devalues Blackness. This concept is developed by W. E. B. Du Bois in The Souls of Black Folk, published in 1903, where he explores how race and citizenship create a fractured sense of self and a constant negotiation of belonging in America. Du Bois is the author associated with both the work and the idea of double consciousness.

Booker T. Washington emphasized vocational education and gradual advancement through accommodation to segregation. Frederick Douglass was a 19th-century abolitionist and writer who argued for emancipation and universal rights. Langston Hughes was a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance, known for poetry and plays about Black life in the early 20th century. Given these distinctions, the author who wrote The Souls of Black Folk and articulated double consciousness is W. E. B. Du Bois.