Arnold Rampersad is emeritus professor of English at Stanford University and author of The Art and Imagination of W.E.B. Du Bois. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2010. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode "Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Alexander, & Arnold Rampersad — W.E.B. Du Bois & the American Soul." Find more at onbeing.org.