W.E.B. DuBois' The Souls of Black Folk Essay

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.

W.E.B. Du Bois, a prominent African American scholar in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, wrote many significant essays that challenged the dangerous societal view that black Americans weren’t capable of progress. In one of those essays, Strivings of the Negro People, he develops new terminology to discuss the many forces that act upon black Americans in a white dominated society, the most important of which is double-consciousness. The phrase, “double-consciousness”, refers to the division of the African American self into conflicting two facets: one being the American and the other the Negro, ever being forced to look at themselves through the eyes of a racist society.

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.

W.E.B. Du Bois writes a collection of essays on race, preferably the African American race, entitled The Souls of Black Folks. In the forethought, Du Bois lets the reader know gather together an introduction of the rest of the book. He introduces you to his concept of “the veil” Drawing from his own personal experiences, Du Bois develops a remarkable book on how the world is divided by a color line. The divide being between white and privileged, and black and controlled. I will attempt to break down the thought process of Du Bois during the entirety of this synopsis of chapters 1, 3, and 6.

It is no secret that the life and culture of the African American population was extremely oppressed before the Civil Rights movement that ultimately led to their equality and freedom. Due to an autobiographical collection of essays by W.E.B. Du Bois called Souls of Black Folks readers are able to get an unfiltered glimpse into what it was like for African Americans living through these trying times. It is my belief, after reading Du Bois’s piece, that he sought to create a sense of emotional unity with his fellow African Americans and to create sympathy in non-African American supporters through his reoccurring concept of double consciousness and “veil” metaphors. This unity would be necessary for their race, and other supporters, to come

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

De Beauvoir translates the idea of the Veil that Du Bois presents in The Souls of Black Folk in a way that applies to the oppression of women. Du Bois defines the Veil as the greatest problem to the liberation of black people because of the mental oppression it defines. The Veil symbolizes the way the black people see themselves through the white race’s perspective which causes self-hatred and a belief of inferiority to the white race. When arguing the cause of this mental oppression Du

“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)

   In his book The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois says “The negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second sight in this American world – a world which yields him no self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world” (pg 348). He uses the metaphor of a veil to describe the social distance between people. However as I read through chapter one, it was interesting for

Robert Penn quotes Du Bois' The Souls of Black Folk. He sums up this concept beautifully: "It is a particular 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 world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One never feels the 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." (Penn, p.19)

In Dubois (1903) “The Soul of Black Folk” the ideas of double consciousness and the veil affect blacks. A veil is a piece of clothing that conceals a face. The veil is figurative and is presented in the film through Buggin outs questions Sal of the wall of fame. Even though it’s Sal’s pizzeria Buggin out raises a great point. Buggin out tells Sal that the clientele he attracts are black folk. While black folk are the majority of the customers they should have a say on the wall of fame. The veil is to conceal the importance of blacks. To Sal and his sons blacks are not important enough to put on the wall. The community is diverse but Sal’s son Pino view blacks with hate and resentment. Pino views blacks as apes and animals not people. Another example of the veil can be the conversation Mookie has with Pino. Mookie criticizes Pino for constantly critiquing blacks and questions his favorite entertainers. Pino’s

DuBois's story "The Veil" shows a concept that is visible on many levels. The veil can be seen as the literal darker skin of the black people, which is an easy way to identitify any race from any other race. This physical trait allows for discrimination solely because it is the easiest thing to point out. The veil also explores the idea of the White's lack of acceptance of Blacks as Americans, let alone "real" Americans. The veil also covers the notion of the Blacks' inability to see themselves outside of what America (White Americans) had described them as.

It doesn’t take long to figure out that race and ethnicity issues continue to affect America - a quick glance at the news will show the latest riot, hate crime, or police brutality incident. This centuries old struggle has given rise to a number of literary works on the topic, many of which take a different approach to the issue. W.E.B. Du Bois, for instance, published the work The Souls of Black Folk in 1903, arguing for blacks’ right to equality in a horrifically segregated society. In these essays, Du Bois coined the term “double-consciousness,” wherein those with black skin must view the world both from their own perspective, and from the perspective of the predominately white society. The short story Recitatif by Toni Morrison explores this concept through the removal of the characters’ races, and the film Do the Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee, tells a story to demonstrate it. While the former shows double-consciousness through the usage of ambiguity, the latter almost directly references the concept. Taken together, these two sources argue a multi-faceted version double-consciousness, wherein society alienates the characters in ways that go beyond just the color of one’s skin.

African Americans around the world articulate their opinion on topics and issues that affect their community directly. A lot of advocates and activists have formed over the years in fight for the African American community. W.E.B. Du Bois is a perfect example of an activists for African Americans. Du Bois’ participation within the activism was mainly within the 20th century. In the late 1800’s W.E.B. Du Bois turn out to be the very first African American to earn a PH.D. from Harvard University. Many years later, he went on to be one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the year 1909 (Asante 2003). Before Du Bois helped create that association, he published a literary piece that placed recognition on the history of African Americans. The Souls of Black Folk is a piece of literature that helps describe the concept of race and racism in America in the twentieth century. The purpose of this paper is to analysis the literature, The Souls of Black Folk, and address the topics of the veil and the color line, as mentioned in the literary work.

Focusing on the idea of the two-ness that is felt by African Americans in their personal trials in their hopes to be recognized as both African and American. Writing his piece Double Consciousness and the Veil in 1903. When read closely there is an additional theme that can be found throughout his work. A theme that makes clear that the feeling of two-ness felt by African Americans is not one that should be resolved with the elimination of all white influences but rather a melding of the two cultures. For Du Bois, this would help to create equality among the two races. Similarly, Césaire remarks, “It seems in certain circles they pretend to have found in me as an enemy of Europe and a prophet of the return to ante Europe past.” (p.341). Going further, he explains he has never underestimated the impact that Europe had on the history of the world and Africa. Enabling Césaire to convey his appreciation of the role that Europe played in the boost in morale of the African peoples with their forced colonization of the enriched nation. Similarly Du Bois responds to his memory of racial injustice by stating “ But they should not keep these prizes Some,all I would wrest from them”(p.164). Observing for himself before the writings of Ciesear Du Bois is able to recognize the power of the “white man had over the black community as a colonizer.Sharing ideas but not terms the two authors arrive at a general consensus that the caucasian man is the one who maintains a monopoly over natural resources and rights of those who seem inferior to them can be defined as the colonizers. Consequently, the process of colonizing the black community has lead to the ultimate objectification of African Americans. For Ciesar this is best demonstrated with the use of a mathematical equation where “thingification” equals Colonization. (p.340). Thus to be objectified in such a way tends to