The Souls Of Black Folk By W. E. B Dubois

The Scramble for Africa can easily be defined as the forced invasion and division of African countries among European superpowers. Those powers included Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, and Belgium. Each superpower wanted control over a certain area on the continent and would do anything to ensure that their area remained in their best interest. To bring the conflicts to the forefront, the countries participated in the Berlin Africa Conference in 1884-1885. In this conference, the issues of Anglo-German relations and everybody’s control in Africa were discussed. As a result of the conference, European control began to overtake the African continent and imperialism became a giant part of the European mark. In his book, “Worlds of Color” W.E.B DuBois discusses the idea of whole colonial enterprise stating that the problem the world faces is the color line. This can easily be interpreted as Dr. DuBois giving the idea that if World, more specifically European superpowers stop viewing the color line and Africa’s color line as something less than them a lot of the world’s issues could be detected and fixed. But more importantly, Dr. DuBois is stating that without the Worlds of Color, European industrialization would not exist.

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Dubois is a influential work in African American literature and is an American classic. In this book Dubois proposes that "the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line." His concepts of life behind the veil of race and the resulting "double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others," have become touchstones for thinking about race in America. In addition to these lasting concepts, Souls offers an evaluation of the progress of the races and the possibilities for future progress as the nation entered the twentieth century.

The next aspect of double consciousness consists of the rejection of African Americans by white Americans and institutions. Blacks are forced to live in America, but at the same time, are not considered “true” Americans and are separated by the veil that DuBois talks about. DuBois first feels this rejection when a little girl at his school rejected his card for no reason other than his skin color. He asks, “Why did God make me an outcast and a stranger in mine own house?” (Dubois 896). He describes opportunities for blacks as “relentlessly narrow, tall, and unscalable to sons of night” (896) giving the impression that a

DuBois’ double-consciousness is quite simply the twoness of American Negroes. It is this sense of “always looking at one’s self through the

The Souls of Black Folk, written by W.E.B DuBois is a collection of autobiographical and historical essays containing many themes. DuBois introduced the notion of "twoness", a divided awareness of one's identity. "One ever feels his two-ness – an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled stirrings: two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keep it from being torn asunder" (215). There are many underlying themes in this collection of essays. One of the themes that DuBois speaks on extensively is education.

The turn of the 19th century was a time in American history that brought with it major economic, cultural, and political changes. The Reconstruction era and Gilded Age had ended with rising influential Jim Crow laws, which made a clear division among the American population. The publishing of Booker T. Washington's, Up from Slavery and W. E. B. Du Bois's, The Souls of Black Folk both occurred in the early 1900's when oppression of the black race in America was known internationally. The two men's novels are both persuasive writings that questioned the land they lived on. The similarities and differences in Washington and Du Bois's novels can be evident through their individual writing style,

naturally endured identity issues. I feel that W.E.B Du Bois’ idea of double consciousness comes

“A piece of cloth or net worn usually by a woman over the head and shoulders and sometimes over the face.” This simple definition, provided by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is often the first thing that comes to mind when speaking about a veil. However, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary offers another definition: “something that covers or hides something else.” I believe that this definition is more closely related to the veil that W.E.B. DuBois discusses in this book, “The Souls of Black Folk.” The first time Dubois brings up the idea of a veil, it is when he is describing an experience from his past that made him feel as though he was different from other people. He uses the idea of a veil to emphasize separation he felt from the other people— the white people. However, Dubois reveals that he had, “to tear down that veil, to creep through that veil, to creep though,” (DuBois, 10). Does this mean the veil isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As DuBois continues to talk about his experiences, the veil eventually turns into “the shades of the prison-house…” (10). This signifies that, as Dubois became older, his anger grew towards white people. But who could blame him? DuBois was growing up the post-civil war era, the time also known as Reconstruction, a time when slaves were “free” but black people were still extremely mistreated.

The reading that I found most compelling to me was W.E.B DuBois excerpt titled “The Souls of Black Folk”. I find this reading compelling because DuBois was a huge advocate on togetherness and that people were being treated equal. During time that this reading was created, there were many obstacles African Americans were facing in that era that was not so promising for a bright future. The struggles they faced were, racial biasness, lack of representation and lack of educational attainment. DuBois presented the idea of double consciousness and the veil, which has specified a structure for how African Americans indulge in society. Nonetheless, he explains the delinquent issues of the twentieth century and that the problem is the color-line which divided race. The theories of life after the veil of cultural biasness and development of double-consciousness, the act of constantly looking at particular individuals through the scrutiny of others, while creating a broader viewpoint on how to roughly speak about cultural biasness in society. Moreover, the everlasting ideas proposes a specific duty of the progression of the race culture, the obstacles to overcome, and the potential necessities for forthcoming growth as society reached the twentieth century. Over time DuBois observe the years after trailing the Civil War and, The Freedmen 's Bureau’s role in Reconstruction. The catastrophes of the Department 's were not only directed toward the southern disapproval and general

“It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,—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.” (Dubois)

Through his work, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” W.E.B. Dubois takes the reader on a journey through the typical black man’s eyes. He creates a new meaning of the African American man as he shares personal experiences and stories of the past alike. He plays upon the heart strings of every reader, no matter the race, with his literary knowledge of words, use of pathos, and stories of his past experience to pull in emotional ties to his work. The application of dualism allows the reader, who is most commonly white men, to choose a side to sympathize with, for Dubois gives the sense of double consciousness as the African and the American throughout his entire work.

The idea of double consciousness, termed by W.E.B. Du Bois, for African Americans deals with the notion that one’s self has duality in being black and American. It is the attempt to reconcile two cultures that make up the identity of black men and women. One can only see through the eyes of another. A veil exists in this idea, where one has limits in how he or she can see or be seen. This individual is invisible to the onlookers of the veil, and those onlookers may be invisible to the individual. This then alters how one can truly interpret their conscious. This concept is one that has been explored in various themes of literature,

Double consciousness is a concept that Du Bois first explores in the 1903 publication, “The Souls of Black Folk”. Double consciousness explains each individual’s sensation of feeling as through his or her identity. Divided into several parts, making it hard or sometimes impossible to have one unified identity. Du Bois spoke of this due to the context of race relations with in the United States. He spoke that since African Americans have lived in a society that has historically subdued and devalued them as persons of worth that is has become more difficult for them to unify their black identity with their American identity. Double consciousness forces African Americans to not only segregate themselves from their own unique perspective, but also view themselves as they could be perceived by the outside (white American) world. Du Bois spoke of this when he referenced about “the sense of looking at one’s self through the eyes of another’s”. As a result, the black race sometimes can suffer from a damaged self-image shaped by the perceptions and actions towards the treatment of white people. Black life can easily become formed by stereotypes perceptions and treatment of white people, which in turn those stereotypes perpetuate mainstream culture. According to Du Bois the prejudices of white people draw out “self- questioning, self-disparagement, and lowering of ideals” amount black people. Through the

W.E.B. DuBois’ work influenced the concepts of Critical Theory in various ways. DuBois did not view science as the only specific way of research, he believed that knowledge could be found through various ways such as interviewing individuals. DuBois interviewed several people from his neighborhood in Philadelphia, which was a predominantly black community. His research was based on the lives of African Americans in Philadelphia, in which he eventually wrote and published a book on the attitudes towards understanding the black population. DuBois’s first publication was titled, “The Souls of Black Folk”, where he talked about the double consciousness. The double consciousness is defined as the individual sensation of feeling as though your identity

Brought up in a European-dominated society, Du Bois uses the term “double-consciousness” to refer to his experiences in dealing with his African heritage in a primarily white society. The double consciousness deals with one’s self-conception, which