One Ever Says His Twoness, By W. E. B. Du Bois

W.E.B. Du Bois’s idea of double-consciousness in my opinion relates to the struggle of being black and being an American. In the 19th and 20th century the idea of being black and being an American were very conflicting ideas since to be an American meant you were free and had the right to own property, receive an education, and have the right to vote in the polls just to name a few of the freedoms that many people believed was an individual right of being an American. “One ever feels his twoness, - an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” (W.E.B. Du Bois, Pg. 5) African Americans in the 19th and 20th century
Du Bois believed that bringing the two races together white and black would make society whole giving each race the important characteristics each race lacks. “in order that some day on American soil two world races may give each to each those characteristics both so sadly lack.” (W.E.B. Du Bois, Pg. 11) Throughout the chapter Du Bois illustrates the gains African American had after the civil war and then showed how these rights Africans gained were later either taken from them or given far less attention to then they give to the white such as the case with education where black students were barely taught to read and write while white students far exceeded literacy. Though the only people who saw an issue with the way things became after the civil war for African Americans was the African Americans. Many white people felt they were being fair with the Africans by freeing them from slavery, but it was more than just slavery that made Africans a slave. “The would-be black savant was confronted by the paradox that the knowledge his people needed was a twice-told tale to his white neighbors, while the knowledge which would teach the white world was Greek to his own flesh and blood.”