At the Paris World Fair of 1900, W.E.B. Du Bois used groundbreaking statistical graphics to document the accomplishments of Black Americans and life inside “the Veil” of systemic oppression. The Library of Congress will lend a selection of these rare data visualizations to Cooper Hewitt’s Recharting Modern Design exhibition, allowing visitors to see them in person for the first time in 120 years. The data graphics of W.E.B. Du Bois will appear in dialogue with decorative objects from the fair, connecting Du Bois’s “color line” to the “whiplash line” of Art Nouveau. What is the enduring power of these graphics today?
