The Quest of the Silver Fleece

When two young people are given a life-changing opportunity they encounter moral and systemic challenges that are directly tied to their racial and economic backgrounds. In The Quest of the Silver Fleece, W.E.B. Du Bois confronts covert discrimination in contemporary America.

Cotton, also known as “silver fleece,” is still a prized possession in the early-twentieth century. It continues to generate massive profits that are barely distributed amongst its predominantly Black workforce. Zora is a child of the South, and Bles, is a man with Northern sensibilities–yet, they both feel the weight of oppression. Set in Alabama and Washington D.C., The Quest of the Silver Fleece examines the struggle for upward mobility and the compromises to sustain it.

As a sociologist, Du Bois explores the ongoing effects of racial inequality in both the North and South. With The Quest of the Silver Fleece, he highlights the glaring disparity between the white establishment and African American labor. It’s an explicit indictment of continued oppression in a post-slavery society.

With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Quest of the Silver Fleece is both modern and readable.