Encyclopedia Africana

History

W.E.B. Du Bois and the ''Encyclopedia Africana''

Daniel Alexander Payne Murray was one of the first African-Americans to work as a librarian at the Library of Congress in 1871. In 1899, Murray organized an exhibit at the 1900 Paris Exposition on Negro authors. Under his direction, his award-winning exhibit became the core of the Library of Congress's Colored Author Collection. Murray planned to expand his collection and create an encyclopedia of African-American achievement.

In 1901, Du Bois widened the scope of the project to encompass the entire African diaspora. He suggested that the encyclopedia be called the "Encyclopedia Africana" in a similar fashion to the Encyclopædia Britannica. Du Bois envisioned a scientific and comprehensive work on Africa and peoples of African descent that would refute the Enlightenment notion of Black people as devoid of civilization and the hallmarks of humanity. Due to lack of support from the established philanthropies, the project died.

Revival

Du Bois never completed the project. However, the idea of an encyclopedia that explored the Black experience was revived and expanded. In the late 1970s, while Gates and Appiah were attending the University of Cambridge in England, they first discussed the project. They proposed the project to the Britannica encyclopedia company but were told it lacked financial viability.

Editions

• 1st ed. Basic Civitas Books, 1999,
• 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2005, In February 1998, Appiah and Gates, and their team of African-American studies scholars, partnered with Microsoft to release Microsoft Encarta Africana, a CD-ROM variation of the Encyclopedia Africana accompanying the later released print version. Microsoft had the separate product for a brief period. Starting with the 2001 version, it was integrated into the main Encarta Reference Suite.

Reception

The 1st edition was praised for seemingly fulfilling Du Bois's vision of creating a compendium that, like Encyclopédie, "would serve as a springboard for future scholarship and a bulwark against racist misconceptions." In 1999, Publishers Weekly reviewed the 1st edition and admired how "accessible" it is.

Filmmaker, Kahlil Joseph, was inspired by the encyclopedia. He deployed symbolic and literal elements of the project into his art exhibit and 2025 film BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions, a "filmic collage" of African and diasporic culture.

References

References

1. [[Wilson Jeremiah Moses]] and [[Cain Hope Felder]]: ''[http://www.nathanielturner.com/twoscholarsdiscussafrocentrism.htm Two Scholars Discuss Afrocentrism] {{Webarchive. link. (August 30, 2006 '')
2. [http://www.africanaencyclopedia.com/ Encyclopedia Africana online] The official website
3. [http://aaas.fas.harvard.edu/faculty/henry_louis_gates_jr/index.html Henry Louis Gates, Jr.] {{Webarchive. link. (2007-12-17 Department of African American Studies, [[Harvard University]])
4. ''Daniel Alexander Payne Murray (1852–1925), Forgotten Librarian, Bibliographer, and Historian'' by Walker, Billie E. ''[[Libraries & Culture]]'' – Volume 40, Number 1, Winter 2005, pp. 25–37
5. Gates, Henry Louis. (2000). "W. E. B. Du Bois and the Encyclopedia Africana, 1909–63". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
6. (23 August 1998). "Encyclopedia Africana (Almost) Here at Last".
7. "Award-Winning Encarta Africana Included in Suite for the First Time". Microsoft.com.
8. (4 October 1999). "Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience [With Carrying Case]".
9. (9 September 2025). "Kahlil Joseph’s sprawling audio-visual compendium BLKNWS returns as a feature-length film".