DU BOIS, DIGITIZED: AUGMENTING THE HUMANITIES THROUGH IMMERSIVE DATA VISUALIZATION

Abstract

This thesis explores the pioneering data visualizations of W.E.B. Du Bois and examines how immersive technologies can extend his visual grammar into contemporary digital scholarship. Du Bois' charts within the Exhibit of American Negroes at the 1900 Paris Exposition used bold color, geometric clarity, and rhetorical precision to confront racism and elevate Black life through data. Taking these visualizations as both an object of study and a methodological prompt, this project engages Du Bois' work through a three-part creative inquiry: re-creation (using D3.js to reproduce a historical chart), re-imagination (using generative AI to reinterpret his aesthetic), and re-interpretation (using GIS to map housing disparities in Tucson, Arizona). These efforts culminated in Hello, Black World, a collaborative project with Howard University, in which I developed three immersive, web-based data stories: Black Space and the Environment, The Blossoming of Black Literature, and Homeownership Across Race. Each visualization draws from Du Bois' stylistic language and brings it into a participatory, three-dimensional medium. This thesis argues that immersive data visualization"”rooted in rhetorical clarity and designed for spatial interaction"”can deepen public engagement with complex social data, offering scholars a powerful tool for storytelling, pedagogy, and justice-oriented research.