The Souls Of Black Folk By W. E. B. Du Bois

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Dubois is about the development of the African American race since slavery. Dubois makes an analysis of what African Americans went through – how they struggled, and despite all the barriers, how they survived. He also includes personal stories of his family and childhood days. The purpose of this analysis was to alert his race that this is what African-Americans need, and not what Booker T. Washington was proposing at the time. At their time, the stakes were high, time was ticking, and people needed leaders to guide them. W.E.B Dubois became one of the most influential leaders in the African American community. By publishing this analysis, he was able to get the attention of America.

In the first four paragraphs of W.E.B. Du Bois’ “The Souls of Black Folk”, he develops two central ideas which interact with each other. These central ideas are the idea of a “vast veil” (para 2), and that of a “double-consciousness” (para 3). The vast veil represents the separation between whites and blacks or American and African, as shown by the quote “But shut out of their [white people] world by a vast veil” (para 3). The double-consciousness is one of the terms used for the duality of the black souls, being “an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body” (para 3). This twoness and the separation if it, keeps blacks from feeling at home, to instead feel like “an outcast and

The concept of a new beginning is a repetitive theme that occurs in African American literature, mostly, in the geographical form of The South. Used as a literary landscape, The South is more than a representation of the horrors that African-Americans had endured during the time of slavery. It is there that African-Americans developed a society and culture that was constructed through the struggles of their ancestors and the mechanisms that had developed to survive. The history of their people is embedded throughout the soil of the landscape and it is from there a new future can arise. It also gave them religion and spiritual connections to their ancestors. Negro spirituals—whose original purpose was to guide slaves to freedom and increase

The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois, published in 1903, and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, published in 1845 both show the complexity of the life of an African American living in Antebellum and Post-Antebellum America. To be Black in America means to identify with two separate groups, one accepting, and the other neglecting them. In this society it is difficult to be seen as equal. Africans Americans must see themselves through the eyes of their oppressor and through the eyes of their own race. Even from looking at the two points of view it is hard to find actual freedom. Double consciousness has the ability to cause a disenchanted view of the world because both sides of the Veil are flawed. Therefore

There was a “striking affinity” between Frederick Douglass’ ideals about African American creativity and discovering one’s self and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s persistence on self-sufficiency and disapproval of authority and laws (945). Douglass’ personal story is important for all readers because his, “books and essays serve as the foundation for the African American literary tradition” (945). This is important because during the mid-1800s there weren’t very many writings from African Americans and this became an example that many authors used in their works. After Douglass escaped from slavery, he lectured about the, “horrific impact on black people” as well as slavery’s, “damaging effects on the white population in the south” (945). He explained that slavery destroyed families, exploited women, damaged the “hearts and minds” as well as the “souls and bodies” of adults and children (945). Furthermore, because of the unlimited power that white slave owners had, they began to view themselves in a distorted way which violated, “the best instincts and impulses of their human nature” (945).

W.E.B DuBois wrote the book titled The Souls of Black Folk in 1903 as a response to the condition of black people in America. The book predates the 1920s Harlem Renaissance, but can be viewed as a precursor to the New Negro Movement. Prior to 1903, blacks lived primarily in the South, but by the 1920s the black population in New York City rose by 115 percent. The movement of blacks from the South to the North occurred for various reasons; discontent with life in the Jim Crow South, widespread violence against blacks and the opportunity for jobs in the North due to WWI. The Souls of Black Folk is the written anthem for the Harlem Renaissance; the book voices the condition of blacks in 1903 and aims to celebrate African-American culture, to strive for equality and break with the philosophy of Booker T. Washington.

Slavery is a contradictory subject in American history because “one hears…of the staid and gentle patriarchy, the wide and sleepy plantations with lord and retainers, ease and happiness; [while] on the other hand on hears of barbarous cruelty and unbridles power and wide oppression of men” (Dubois 2). Dubois’s The Negro in the United States is an autoethnographic text which is a representation “that the so-defined others

Mary Churchill Terrell, a college educated African American, daughter of former slaves, and activist. Terrell, also known for great accomplishments such as being the first African American woman of Washington DC 's board of education, the first president of the national association of colored women, and her most memorable work, the delivery of her speech at the Washington 's women club, "What it means to be colored in the capital of the US." This speech is so iconic and memorable because Terrell speaks on the oppression that blacks dealt with during the time the Jim Crow law 's from a personal perspective, and also because she is a woman who at the time was considered the bottom of the social ladder. Her mission for this speech is admirable, she presents the realities a colored experience in Washington DC otherwise known as "the colored man 's paradise" she accomplished this with a strong use of diction, and a mixture of multiple rhetorical tools to address the problems of unrecognized racism.

Throughout the years, race has been a major problem in multiple countries, especially our own. While reading through the articles provided for this assignment, there was one underlying issue in them all, white vs. black. What made black people so different from us? What made them so unwanted and why were most of them slaves rather than white people. It seems that the reasoning that most African American people were put up as slaves, or servants was because of their ranking on the financial ladder. They were put into the position they were in because they were so low in poverty that they really had no other choice. People of color weren’t allowed to vote, much less own land, or even do something of great meaning then.

Among the many influential civil rights activists of the early 20th century, one of the most significant was W.E.B Du Bois. Du Bois was a firm believer in empowerment through education, and prompted blacks to solve racial and social injustice through knowledge rather than aggression. The author stressed that through scholastic improvements, blacks had the potential to one day solve the issues that they faced on the daily through logic and sound reasoning. In his essay “The Souls of Black Folk,” Du Bois uses a combination of personal recollections, symbolism, and powerful imagery as a means to inspire blacks to seek education, and urge them to use the knowledge they acquire through their studies to advocate social reformation.

W.E.B Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk is an influential work in African American literature. In this specific essay Du Bois, discusses living in twentieth century as an African American. Du Bois, begins by discussing a question many choose not to ask, “How does it feel to be a problem?” Being a “Negro” in the 20th century Du Bois comes to the realization that because of the way he is, he held a low position within society. The concept that “black was bad” and that only few good ones was what defined African Americans in America. Throughout the 20th century blacks continued to fight for equal rights, Du Bois states that “The power of the ballot we need in sheer self defense, -else what shall save us from a second slavery?” Du Bois makes this point elaborating that an education is what could give blacks that step up, yet again opportunities that come after the education is still limited.

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Du Bois, is an article on a African-American living in the United States. In this piece of literature Du Bois harshly portrays the personal and third person accounts African – American struggles during a period of slavery. The author uses many songs to depict the cruel life in four essays. In this piece Du Bois coins two main terms, “double consciousness” and “the Veil.” Overall the author provides the reader how the twentieth century is the problem of the color line and with stories and situations that the black man experiences throughout the period of reform.

Those who have held a tight grip on power and prosperity have always excluded themselves from the norm and have put themselves on pedestals. When the thirst of nobility is quenched, minority groups are recognized as inferior; this is what occurred during the Jim Crow era in the decades subsequent to the civil war. Following the release of all African American slaves, it was a priority of the intolerable Southern states to reassure their white superiority. This was done by implementing the Jim Crow caste system which limited the rights and abilities of African Americans. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel reflecting the life of author Harper Lee "To Kill A Mockingbird" shows accurate demonstrations of the Jim Crow south; this novel takes place in the early 1930 's in a town called Maycomb. The story involves a woman named Jean-Louis, informally called Scout throughout the novel, narrating the events of her childhood life. An innocent African American man has been accused of raping a white woman, and Scout 's father has been unanimously appointed to his defense. Her father seeks victory, but proving the man 's innocence seems far out of reach as it is a taboo to favor a black man 's side over a white women 's story. It is exceptionally difficult to develop a story in a time like this because the level of racism and hatred is at the extreme, us as an audience must acknowledge that 's doing not come from the author but rather the period. Harper Lee executes such an

Two documents from late 19th century and early 20th century will illustrate the historical context that Du Bois lived in. The first is a children’s book Mother Gooses Nursery Rhymes from 1892, and the second is a newspaper article Punishes Southern Town – The President Closes the Post Office at Indianola, Miss. (The New York Times) from 1903. These documents is a cogent proof of the amassed racism in the U.S., which may help readers understand better why Du Bois wrote The Souls of Black Folk. Du Bois’ spurred the Nemesis of racism and outraged stereotypes of African Americans by debuting readers the concept of double-consciousness and surveillance in American society and therefore awakening African Americans to a queasy reality.

The Souls of Black Folk written by W.E.B. Du Bois evaluated the advancement of the African-American race, the obstacles to improvement, and the possibilities for future progress as the nation entered the 20th century. Du Bois introduces the problem with the 20th century is the “veil”. The phrase “veil” was a reference to the racial segregation that existed in the United States even after the abolition of slavery. The phrase “double consciousness” is expressed as a person caught between the self-conception of being an “American” as well as a person of African descent. Making it very hard for one to have a unified identity.