This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Reviews the status of African Americans through research on Africa, the West Indies, and the Colonies, and how those different settings have affected the economic and social capabilities of the African people. It provides a history of cooperation among African Americans, describing its beginnings in the African church and its further progress as seen in the development of the Underground Railroad. Du Bois moves on to discuss the roles of emancipation, the Freedmen's Bureau, and migration. There is considerable detail and statistics about various types of economic cooperation including churches, schools, beneficial and insurance societies, secret societies, cooperative benevolence, banks, and cooperative business.