THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLKSBy W.E.B. Du Bois

HISTORICAL CONTEXTNear the turn of the century (late 1800s to early 1900s). End of the Civil War (1861-65)Black Americans were legaly recognized as U.S. citizens thanks to the 14th and he 15th amendments (1868-70). Nevertheless, there was still segregation in the South. The Southern states were still feeling the effects of the Civil War by the end of the 19th century. Limitations on black employment opportunities and property ownership Interracial marriage was illegal in every state.Public facilities, including schools, restaurants, hospitals, etc. were still segregated.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT1866 Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1866 1871 Congress passes Ku Klux Klan Act Congress, which prohibited racial discrimination.1865-72. Freedmens Bureau established by Congress provided practical aid to newly freed black Americans in their transition from slavery to freedom.1875 Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1875 that guaranteed African Americans equal treatment in public accommodations, public transportation, and prohibited exclusion from jury service. The Supreme Court decided the act was unconstitutional in 1883.1877 Reconstruction ends

WILLIAM EDWARD BURGHARDT DUBOIS (1868 - 1963)Born: 23 February 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts Died: 27 August 1963While in high school Du Bois showed a keen concern for the development of his race. At age fifteen he became the local correspondent for the New York Globe.Attended Fisk College in Tennessee & received his bachelor's degree & later completed a doctorate from Harvard.Du Bois chose to study at the University of Berlin in Germany will there, he began to see the racial problems.After the completion of the study, Du Bois accepted a position at Atlanta University to further his teachings in sociology

THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLKSPublished in 1903

Collection of essays grouped according to theme.

Each of the chapters opens with a quotation of verse from a famous source followed by lines of music from an African-American spiritual.

THE VEIL the problem of the Twentieth century is the problem of the color-line. (3)Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: How does it feel to be a problem? (7)Du Bois begins by introducing two main concepts, that of the color-line and that of the veil. He explains that his book aims to show the history, religion, and struggle of the African-American people from their own point of view.

Two worlds: that of the whites, and that of the blacks. These two worlds are separated by what he calls the Veil, a color-line. This Veil leads to a double-consciousness in the Negro people. Their soul is split in two, a Negro part and an American part.

DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESSThis double-consciousness both gives blacks a "second sight" and hinders their progress toward a simple access to identity. Blacks can never see themselves directly, but only through the eyes of contemptuous white men who are watching for them to fail or to behave foolishly.

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. (8)

EDUCATIONControversy between Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, Washington argued the Black people should temporarily forego "political power, insistence on civil rights, and higher education of Negro youth. They should concentrate all their energies on industrial education." Du Bois believed in the higher education of a "Talented Tenth" who through their knowledge of modern culture could guide the American Negro into a higher civilization. Du Bois was not opposed to Washington's power, but rather, he was against his ideology/methodology of handling the power.

Stress on education and universities, not only enrichment and materialism. Universitites are important for DuBois.

The Black Belt: Georgia, Albany. City life, poverty, broken families...a look to the lives in this city from a sociological point of view.

Black poor farmers' conditions and cotton industry. Unability to get out of a low condition for black people and be stuck on poverty and ignorance.

It is not enough for the Negroes to declare that color prejudice is the sole cause for their social condition, nor for the white South to reply that their social condition is the main cause of prejudice. He explores race relationships between blacks and whites.

BLACK CHURCH

Du Bois describes the rise of the Black Church and its links to the black political movements. The author believes that the African American religion is also impacted by the "double-consciousness," that duality of "two souls, two thoughts []". Despite of the fact that the Church has offered comfort and salvation to black people it has complicated their progress and their education at Universities

The church often stands as a real conserver of morals, a strengthener of family life, and the final authority on what is Good and Right" (148) vs

Conscious of his impotence, and pes- simistic, he often becomes bitter and vindictive; and his religion, instead of a worship, is a complaint and a curse, a wail rather than a hope, a sneer rather than a faith (155)

HIS SONS DEATHThe author talks about his experience when his baby son passed away. He believes that his son was never able to truly be under the effect of the Veil, or to be conscious of the color-line because of his young age. Du Bois considers that his baby escaped from great suffering and he hopes the younger generations of his people wont have to undergo this suffering caused by discrimination

He knew no color-line, poor dear, -and the Veil, though it shadowed him, had not yet darkened half his sun. My soul whispers ever to me, saying, Not dead, not dead, but escaped; not bond, but free. pg 163

But for fresh young souls who have not known the night and waken to the morning; a morning when men ask of the work-man, not Is he white? but Can he work? When men ask artists, not Are they black? but Do they know? Some morning this may be, long, long years to come. pg 164

SORROW SONGSFor Du Bois, they show the American slavery, injustice, and oppression. These songs are the "music of an unhappy people they are also prayers that breathe hope and "a faith in the ultimate justice of things" (198). The cultural expressions of black folks, a definition of the word "soul. Sorrow songs represent an important part of black peoples cohesion.