BEYOND W. E. B. DU BOIS: A NOTE ON SOME OF THE LITTLE KNOWN MEMBERS OF THE ATLANTA SOCIOLOGICAL LABORATORY

Between 1895 and 1924 Atlanta University sponsored yearly investigations into the social, economic, and physical condition of Blacks and hosted conferences where the findings were presented. With the appointment of William Edward Burghardt Du Bois as director of the investigations in 1897 the unit soon became the first American school of sociology. Unfortunately, the contributions of members of the school beyond Du Bois remain buried within the hundreds of pages of the Atlanta University Publications. This inquiry provides examples of three groups of contributors to the research program at Atlanta University—professionally trained social scientists, citizen researchers, and university students.