Following the Color Line: An Account of Negro Citizenship in the American Democracy

"The deeper one delves into the problem of race, the humbler he becomes concerning his own views." -Ray Stannard Baker, Following the Color Line (1908) In Following the Color Line (1908), Ray Stannard Baker draws on the insights he gained from traveling more than 20,000 miles over three years (1906-1908) in both the North and South for the purpose of studying the race issue in America. Much of the same information was originally published in articles he prepared for The American Magazine. His goal, as he described it, was to provide "a clear statement of the exact present [early 1900s] conditions and relationships of the Negro in American life." Covering such subjects as lynching and Jim Crow laws, the book is considered the most significant piece of journalism of Baker's career.

RAY STANNARD BAKER (1870-1946) was an American journalist, historian, biographer, and author. Starting at the muckraking magazine McClure's, his interest in political reform led him to research the social and political position of African Americans. He wrote numerous articles on the subject. Under the pen name David Grayson, Baker also wrote the official biography of Woodrow Wilson.