ABSTRACT
W.E.B. DuBois, renowned African American scholar of the late 19th and early 20th century, made significant contributions to the history and study of African Americans. Although he is not identified as a criminologist, many of his writings included discussions about crime. This paper will discuss some of DuBois's early works relevant to criminal justice/criminology. Although his works preceded mainstream (white male) writings, a sample of criminal justice/criminology texts reveals that they are rarely cited or discussed. In this paper, the author attempts to contribute to the current body of historical analyses on African Americans' contributions to criminal justice/criminology. These analyses are needed to expose the discipline to early African American criminological writings. The author provides a brief biographical sketch of DuBois, a discussion of some of his early writings on crime, possible reasons for his exclusion from mainstream criminological literature, possible theoretical classifications for his writings, and some implications of this research.
