W. E. B. Du Bois: The Souls Of Black Folk
W.E.B. Du Bois’: The Souls of Black Folk During 1903, W.E.B. Du Bois’ complied the influential book called The Souls of Black Folk, highlighting the struggles and experiences African Americans and Du Bois had. The formatting of the book varies from an autobiography to a series of essays, with each having a different theme. Du Bois meshes in life stories of the South and testimonies that his peers, himself, and others expressed. In these life stories, part of the focus was on the legacy of slavery and the struggles of being a black person in the South. The other part of the focus was on education amongst the black population, where education correlated with rising about the situation. The first handful of essays dealt with the historical and political problems of
…show more content…
the black experience, which encompassed literacy, the right to vote, and the general notion of how black people feel when they are referred to as the problem. The last handful of essays focused on the spiritual aspect of black people, utilizing personal anecdotes and interpretation. One of the main themes of the book is about acceptance into society. Du Bois wanted it to be “possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face” (Du Bois, 1903, 4). This indicates the struggles and restrictions that people of color had. They could not show their inner self and true passion without society shunning upon them. The bounds that society created forced them to live in the shadows, letting their unique talents go to waste or get ignored. Du Bois mentioned that he had a dream where people of color expressed themselves as well as achieving their dreams without being ridiculed by society for their appearance. Du Bois mentions another main theme of this book: the idea of the veil and double consciousness. He describes the veil as the racial boundary between black and white people; a symbolic wall separating whites and blacks. Throughout the book, he emphasized this idea of a veil, showing how blacks in U.S. society were invisible during that time. Du Bois describes the idea of double consciousness as the “sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others” (Du Bois, 1903, 3). This kind of experience was what African Americans lived within the 1900s. They were constantly reminded that they were different and felt like strangers on their own home. Du Bois expressed that “Emancipation Proclamation seemed but to broaden and intensify the Difficulties” (Du Bois, 1903, 9), indicating that black people did not feel free. Groups that were highly racist such as the Ku Klux Klan formed, embedding fear amongst the black community. They were also struggling economically because through discrimination, black people seldom got hired. These two factors combined makes the emancipation not live its full legacy. Instead, it made the inequalities it was supposed to remove worse, as Du Bois expressed. In Du Bois’ essays, he introduces a form of culture.
He also described himself as a conjurer for the African culture. What this meant was that he expressed feeling for the oppressed and vulnerable people and also had the ability to sermonize social gospels relevant to the black community. He then describes that the role of a black preacher is to unify and reconcile African Americans through facilitating some sort of spiritual rebirth, allowing for a confidence boost. Alongside that, sorrow songs were created to relieve the stress African Americans get through discrimination and hardships, as well as express themselves and their freedom in this world. While racial discrimination today is still apparent in many places, many influential people such as Du Bois did serve as catalysts to easing it. In the 1900s, racial discrimination was terribly callous by today’s standards. Thanks to what Du Bois had to write, it made people open their eyes to the “black experience” that past African Americans dealt with. Racism will linger on as time passes, but the experiences shared are continually making racial discrimination increasingly unacceptable, not just for African American people, but for all groups of
people.
the black experience, which encompassed literacy, the right to vote, and the general notion of how black people feel when they are referred to as the problem. The last handful of essays focused on the spiritual aspect of black people, utilizing personal anecdotes and interpretation. One of the main themes of the book is about acceptance into society. Du Bois wanted it to be “possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face” (Du Bois, 1903, 4). This indicates the struggles and restrictions that people of color had. They could not show their inner self and true passion without society shunning upon them. The bounds that society created forced them to live in the shadows, letting their unique talents go to waste or get ignored. Du Bois mentioned that he had a dream where people of color expressed themselves as well as achieving their dreams without being ridiculed by society for their appearance. Du Bois mentions another main theme of this book: the idea of the veil and double consciousness. He describes the veil as the racial boundary between black and white people; a symbolic wall separating whites and blacks. Throughout the book, he emphasized this idea of a veil, showing how blacks in U.S. society were invisible during that time. Du Bois describes the idea of double consciousness as the “sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others” (Du Bois, 1903, 3). This kind of experience was what African Americans lived within the 1900s. They were constantly reminded that they were different and felt like strangers on their own home. Du Bois expressed that “Emancipation Proclamation seemed but to broaden and intensify the Difficulties” (Du Bois, 1903, 9), indicating that black people did not feel free. Groups that were highly racist such as the Ku Klux Klan formed, embedding fear amongst the black community. They were also struggling economically because through discrimination, black people seldom got hired. These two factors combined makes the emancipation not live its full legacy. Instead, it made the inequalities it was supposed to remove worse, as Du Bois expressed. In Du Bois’ essays, he introduces a form of culture.
He also described himself as a conjurer for the African culture. What this meant was that he expressed feeling for the oppressed and vulnerable people and also had the ability to sermonize social gospels relevant to the black community. He then describes that the role of a black preacher is to unify and reconcile African Americans through facilitating some sort of spiritual rebirth, allowing for a confidence boost. Alongside that, sorrow songs were created to relieve the stress African Americans get through discrimination and hardships, as well as express themselves and their freedom in this world. While racial discrimination today is still apparent in many places, many influential people such as Du Bois did serve as catalysts to easing it. In the 1900s, racial discrimination was terribly callous by today’s standards. Thanks to what Du Bois had to write, it made people open their eyes to the “black experience” that past African Americans dealt with. Racism will linger on as time passes, but the experiences shared are continually making racial discrimination increasingly unacceptable, not just for African American people, but for all groups of
people.