Du Bois went to the Paris World’s Fair to contribute to a showcase called the Exhibit of American Negroes. Du Bois and the exhibition’s organizers wanted to present a more current image of Black strivers. As the founding editor of The Crisis, the magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Du Bois was near the peak of his influence. When he returned to Greenwood in 1926, Du Bois found that the massacre had not dimmed the community’s spirit. But he was beginning to confront the limits of Black progress, starting to ask questions that would lead to his eventual break with the N.A.A.C.P.

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