Chapter 3, "Berkshire Prodigy" Summary and Analysis

Du Bois is born in a house owned by a person who has escaped slavery. After Alfred abandons his family when Du Bois is two, Mary loses this house and must move in next door with relatives. Du Bois remembers the home as good, square, sturdy, neat and large enough. He always defends his father by saying the darker skinned members of the Burghardt family never accept Alfred and practically drive him away. Lewis sees this as a misplaced pride on Du Bois's part in his white, European roots.

In later books, Du Bois says that Alfred always intends for Mary and his son to follow him. Lewis thinks that it is very important for a Victorian-era man raised in a proper religious home to believe he is legitimate and wanted by the father of...