W. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. DuBois's sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Du Bois was also a prolific author of novels, autobiographical accounts, innumerable editorials and journalistic pieces, and several works of history.

The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America, 1638-1870, W. E. B. Du Bois's groundbreaking monograph, recounts the moral failures and missed opportunities of the American Revolution and the consequences of compromising with slavery. As Du Bois's first published work and doctoral dissertation, Suppression lays the groundwork for his early commitment to the study of the African American experience. At the time of its publication in 1896, Du Bois's monograph was at the forefront of developments in historiography, embodying a new, empirical approach to history. Suppression is integral to understanding Du Bois's early theories and his evolution into a leading scholar and activist. With a series introduction by editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and an introduction by Saidiya Hartman, this edition is essential for anyone interested in African American history.