The Collection

J                An Analysis of The Souls of Black Folk

            That which makes up our humanity is as complex as the design that glitters the night sky, but when all of its components are aligned, it can be just as beautiful. The former idea was inspired to me by the brilliant African American scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois. In his early twentieth century book, The Souls of Black Folks, Du Bois masterfully articulates the strife that burdens the lives and hearts of Black Americans after the failures of the Post-Reconstruction Era. I maintain, like Du Bois wrote, that “work, culture, and liberty” are needed, not in part, but all together in order to pull down the veil that shrouds the “souls of Black folk.”

            Multiple times throughout The Soul of Black Folks, Du Bois refers to the “veil” that all Blacks live under. The metaphorical veil represents what separates Blacks from their white counterparts in all facets of life: socially, politically, spiritually, and psychologically. Though no one can see the veil, Blacks are constantly made aware of it while whites unconsciously acknowledge its presence through their prejudice treatment of Blacks. This awareness on the part of Blacks yields them what Du Bois calls “double consciousness” or “second-sight.” Through the veil, Blacks are never allowed to see themselves as they truly are, but instead are always forced to see themselves “though the eyes of another.” These eyes, he says, look upon Blacks with “amused contempt and pity.” With no true sense of “self-consciousness,” Blacks were left to see themselves in this same sad way.

            According to Du Bois, the efforts that focus solely on providing Blacks with work in order to liberate them from the veil have fallen short of their mission because they inevitably lead to submission as they miss the “higher aims of life.” A major proponent of the agenda of providing Blacks with work was Booker T. Washington, whom Du Bois criticizes throughout The Souls of Black Folks. Washington believed that Blacks should strive to prove themselves to be productive members of society, and eventually, they would earn all of the liberties that accompany citizenship. Washington’s efforts did provide Blacks with the means to provide for themselves and their families as artisans and craftsmen, but they failed to remove the veil that all Blacks felt. As Du Bois says, Black artisans faces a “double-aimed struggle.” While they wished to “escape white contempt” of Blacks to only be able to work jobs of high labor and little intellect, they also faced the bleak reality that they served a “poverty-stricken horde.” The advancement of Washington’s program of focusing only on getting Blacks to work would never have led to Blacks being seen as worthy of civil liberties by whites because Blacks were not allowed to progress in areas that could place them at equal standing with white. These areas, the “higher aims of life,” included economic prosperity, social status, and intellect. Instead, Blacks remained at a status of servitude and submissiveness. With each step Washington made, the divide between Blacks and whites grew wider, and the veil fell heavier over Blacks across the country.

            Another area that Du Bois advocated for was the need of Blacks to have “broad culture” in part of their education. To some, the need of a liberal education at this time did not seem practical when little to no jobs were available for Blacks that didn’t require manual labor. It was more imperative that Blacks have work that could support themselves and their families. Some even begged the question of what need did “half men” have of “higher culture?” Du Bois recognized what most others of his time did not, that to ascend to status of whites, some Blacks would need to strive in the arena of intellect and higher learning. Through the accomplishments of these select few, all Blacks would be able to claim a sense of “self-consciousness” and achievement which would shine through the darkness of the veil. Du Bois shared that throughout time, “the powers” and feats of Blacks “flash here and there like falling stars, and die sometimes before the world has rightly gauged their brightness.” Through the veil, Blacks are unjustly measured next to the accomplishment of other races and are made to feel that they have always been a race of strife. In their double consciousness, Blacks do not wish to lose all that they are, for surely “Negro blood has a message for the world.” Du Bois believed that if Blacks gaining “higher culture,” their plea for self-affirmation would be answer.

            The last and possibly most important ideal that Du Bois proposed is that basic American value of liberty. During the Post-Reconstruction Era, Blacks were reduced to what Du Bois called “civil inferiority.” He wrote, “the power of the ballot we need in sheer self-defense—else what shall save us from a second slavery?” Liberty, to Du Bois, extended beyond simply the right to vote. “The terror of the Ku-Klux Klan and the lies of carpet baggers” deemed necessary the liberties of protection of life and property under the law. To wait until whites found Blacks “worthy “of these liberties as some such as Washington suggested left Blacks ultimately vulnerable and submissive to the hatred and prejudice of whites across the country. With the fulfillment of these basic American liberties of the right to vote, and equal and fair protection under the law, Blacks would be able to tear down the veil and fully experience the hard won freedom that they for so long prayed for. Du Bois wrote, “There are to-day no truer exponents of the pure human spirit of the Declaration of Independence than the American Negros.” It is my belief that this statement is as true today as it was during the time when it was written.

            As Du Bois believed, work, culture, and liberty, “to be really true… must be melted and welded into one” for the veil to be lifted from the “souls of Black folks.” Throughout his life, Du Bois led the efforts to bring these ideals into fruition and to claim the “long-sought” freedom that we still seek. As a race, Blacks have come a long way from the time of Du Bois, but as a country, America has a long way to go until the veil is dropped once and for all.