W. E. B DuBois’ “The Souls of Black Folk” is one of the most important works in African American Literature. In this series of essays, DuBois reveals, “the problem of the 20th century is the problem with the color line (DuBois 687). ” This division didn’t just pop up in the 20th century. In 1712, a slave owner from the West Indies gave a speech to slave owners in Virginia, giving a “blueprint” as to how to control the mind of African Americans. He suggested 3 concepts to put this plan into action; fear, distrust, and envy (Willie Lynch Letter). In “The Souls of Black Folk”, DuBois Presents and explains what he believes are the problem with being African American. While DuBois may have given the concepts a name, The Willie Lynch …show more content…
letter is easily the root of DuBois’ ideas of The Veil and Double-Consciousness. The Willie Lynch Letter was a speech that was allegedly given in 1712 on the banks of the James River in Virginia.
Lynch was said to be a British slave owner from the West Indies. While there is no historical proof that this speech was actually given, it still gives an insightful view into the plight of African Americans then and even now. Even though The Willie Lynch letter was said to have been written in 1712, many African Americans in the future still followed the concepts outlined in it without even knowing. “The Willie Lynch Letter and How to Make A Slave” gave what Lynch said to be a “fool proof plan” to give slaves what is today called a “slave mentality”. The book also discusses how black men must be mentally and physically broken from his natural state of being free and independent to a life of servitude. It also say that the breaking of the black woman was of great importance. This was because she played a key role in getting the cycle going with the next generation of men and women. “She, if broken properly would also break her children. (Final …show more content…
Call)” While they were written almost 200 years apart, The Willie Lynch Letter could easily be considered a prequel to “The Souls of Black Folk. ” The concepts outlined in each of them go hand in hand. Lynch lays out a clear plan as to how to divide African Americans and DuBois follows with explanation of why African Americans are divided and explains the Issues and why their fundamental to being black in America. In “Willie Lynch Letter”, Lynch outlines 3 concepts that would keep slaves divided. These concepts were fear, distrust, and envy. These concepts are key to The Veil and Double-Consciousness. The Veil refers to several things; the darker skin of blacks [light skin vs. dark skin], the inability for whites to see blacks as “true” Americans, and blacks inability to see them beyond what white America sees [“I am because they say I am]. Many African Americans have had race-related, life changing experiences. These experiences include the moment they realized that they were black/different and the moment they realized that this was a major problem (The Vail and Double Consciousness). DuBois realized this during a ball when his card was rejected by a white girl for being black. He describes his experience as: Then it dawned upon me with a certain sadness that I was different from the others; or like mayhap in heart and life and longing, but shut out from their world by a vast veil. had thereafter no desire to tear down that veil, to creep through; I held all beyond it in common contempt, and lived above it in a region blue sky and great wandering shadows. (DuBois 689). Even though there’s a “veil” that skews the view of blacks and whites alike, blacks generally have a better understanding of whites and not the other way around. This means that once African Americans realized that being black was a true problem, they have learned to operate in two Americas; Black America and White America. This goes hand in hand with the idea of double- consciousness (“The Vail and Double Consciousness”). While The Veil separated African Americans from whites, it also separated African Americans from each other within the veil. Within The Veil, there’s division based on age, light skin/ dark skin, social-economical status and so on. This points back to the Willie Lynch Letter of 1712. Lynch stated that: “Take this simple list of differences and think about them. On the top of my list is ‘Age’ but it is only there because it starts with an ‘A’; The second is ‘Color’ or shade; there is Intelligence, size, sex, size of plantation, attitude of owner, weather the slave lives in the valley, on a hill, east or west, north, south, have fine or course hair, or is tall or short. Now you have the list of differences. (Willie Lynch Letter) According to lynch, if you could control the minds of the slaves, you could control them for at least 300 years. The veil within the African Americans also uses fear of the unknown [ignorance], distrust, and envy of what others have to keep them divided. Now that there is an understanding of The Veil, one can begin to look at the concept of Double Consciousness. This concept is evident throughout every essay in “The Souls of Black Folk. ” The phrase was first used in 1897 in an Atlantic Monthly Article titled “Strivings of the Negro People. With a few minor edits, it later reappeared in Chapter 1 under the title “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” in 1903. Double consciousness sheds light on psychosocial divides in society that leads to a better understanding of said divisions (Double Consciousness). Dubois has an interesting way of describing the concept of double consciousness. He says that: “ It is a peculiar sensation, this sense of always looking at ones 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 warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone strength keeps it from being torn asunder. ” (Dubois 689) This particular quote is probably the most accurately written depiction of the plight of being both African and American in America. Even though it was written over 100 years ago, this passage still holds true in African American Culture today. In a nutshell, the concept of double-consciousness examines African Americans living with two identities; the African (negro) and all issues that come along with it as well as the American, which is the identity that has been forced on the Negro; its what makes a group aware that they are different. It also means that when African Americans look at and judge themselves, they not only have to consider his or her own opinions but also the opinions outsiders weather inside or outside of the veil that they will forever live within (Murthy). As a result of double consciousness, many African Americans sustained a damaged self-image solely based on what others thought of them—mainly what whites thought. Double consciousness created a divided within African Americans just as Willie Lynch suggested. It created a struggle to identify as African or American
when unknowingly they could exist as both. (The Vail and Double Consciousness). In conclusion, Even though the Willie Lynch speech was said to have been written in 1712, the ideas that Willie Lynch suggested oppressed African Americans physically and mentally for hundreds of years and are even still prevalent today. It laid a solid foundation for DuBois’ concepts of Double Consciousness and The Veil. Even though Double Consciousness and The Veil seem as though they’re the same thing, they’re actually two different concepts that goes hand in hand. Double conciseness is how we view ourselves based on how others view us. The Veil is how we view ourselves as far as being different from others as well as how we view ourselves among those that are like us. DuBois described African Americans as “a sort of seventh son, born with a veil and gifted with second-sight in this American world—a world with yields him no true self-consciousness, buy only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world (Double Consciousness).
To understand the viewpoint of W.E.B Dubois and his argument for having a well-educated African American population, his own background and life experience of the struggle to be African and American must be considered. DuBois is born in the north in Massachusetts where the so-called Negro problem paralyzing the
The work, the Souls of Black Folk explains the problem of color-line in the twentieth century. Examining the time following the civil war the author, W.E.B. Dubois, explains the African American experience of living behind the “veil”. To fully explain the experience of living behind the veil, he provides the reader with situations that a black race experiences in reconstruction. This allowed the readers to metaphorically step into the veil with him. He accomplishes this with the use of “songs of sorrow” with were at the beginning of each chapter, and with the use of anecdotes.
Two of the most influential people in shaping the social and political agenda of African Americans were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois, both early twentieth century writers. While many of their goals were the same, the two men approached the problems facing African Americans in very different ways. This page is designed to show how these two distinct thinkers and writers shaped one movement, as well as political debate for years afterward.
When it all comes down to it, one of the greatest intellectual battles U.S. history was the legendary disagreement between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. This intellectual debate sparked the interest of the Northerners as well as the racist whites that occupied the south. This debate was simply about how the blacks, who just gained freedom from slavery, should exist in America with the white majority. Even though Washington and DuBois stood on opposite sides of the fence they both agreed on one thing, that it was a time for a change in the treatment of African Americans. I chose his topic to write about because I strongly agree with both of the men’s ideas but there is some things about their views that I don’t agree with. Their ideas and views are the things that will be addressed in this essay.
Many of the issues of the color line are a direct derivative of colonialism in the colonies. On one hand through the idea of the problem of the color line DuBois calls our attention to the uncultured imbalances of authority, capital, opportunity and access between whites and African Americans. It also nurtures Du Bois’ right to argue that the oppressed, of necessity, will rise up in confrontation. Certainly, he anticipated wars of emancipation like the riots in Wilmington more aggressive than the imperialist wars of conquest (which in a way is a direct imitation of the time of colonialism).
The idea of double consciousness was first conceptualized by W.E.B. Du Bois. In his writing “The Souls of Black Folk” Du Bois reflects on the subjective consequences of being black in America. On the concept, Du Bois says: “After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, 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 true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. 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 twoness,--an America...
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.
Some African Americans view their race as inferior to the white race. Even though the author may not hold this same opinion, it is still important that he or she understands that part of his or her audience does, especially when writing about racial identity. Zora Neale Hurston understood
In The Soul of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois talks about the struggles that the African Americans faced in the twentieth century. Du Bois mentions the conflict that concepts such as the “double consciousness” (or duality), “the veil” and the “color-line” posed for Black Americans. In his book he says that African Americans struggle with a double consciousness. He explicates that African American are forced to adopt two separate identities. First they are black, and that identity pertains to the color of their skin, the second identity is the American identity. However, he continues that the American identity is tainted because it is that if being American now but were slaves first. In other words, the double consciousness is saying that black people
“BETWEEN me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it….instead of saying directly, How does it feel to be a problem? They say, I know an excellent colored man in my town; or, I fought at Mechanicsville; or, Do not these Southern outrages make your blood boil (Du Bois 1)?” In “The Souls of Black Folk” W.E.B. Du Bois raises awareness to a psychological challenge of African Americans, known as “double - consciousness,” as a result of living in two worlds: the world of the predominant white race and the African American community. As defined by Du Bois, double-consciousness is a:
“The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, – this longing to attain self-consciousness, manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message f...
DuBois presents the question “[h]ow does it feel to be a problem?”, introducing the attitude towards African-Americans upon their emancipation (DuBois 3). The idea of freedom for slaves meant equality, but “the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land […] the shadow of a deep disappointment rests upon the Negro people” (6). The challenge faced during this time was how to deal with the now freed slaves who once had no rights. DuBois states that African-Americans merely wish “to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly i...
Lynch is a writer and teacher in Northern New Mexico. In the following essay, she examines ways that the text of The Souls of Black Folk embodies Du Bois' experience of duality as well as his "people's."
Shortly after this, Jim Crow laws began to emerge, segregating blacks and whites. This dramatic transition from African American power to powerlessness after reconstruction gave birth to two important leaders in the African American community, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. Although these two remarkable men were both in search of a common goal, their roads leading to this goal were significantly different. This is most evident in the two most important documents of the men’s careers: Booker T. Washington’s, “1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech” and W.E.B. DuBois’ response to this, “The Souls of Black Folks.”
Over the course of the century chronicling the helm of slavery, the emancipation, and the push for civil, equal, and human rights, black literary scholars have pressed to have their voice heard in the midst a country that would dare classify a black as a second class citizen. Often, literary modes of communication were employed to accomplish just that. Black scholars used the often little education they received to produce a body of works that would seek to beckon the cause of freedom and help blacks tarry through the cruelties, inadequacies, and inconveniences of their oppressed condition. To capture the black experience in America was one of the sole aims of black literature. However, we as scholars of these bodies of works today are often unsure as to whether or not we can indeed coin the phrase “Black Literature” or, in this case, “Black poetry”. Is there such a thing? If so, how do we define the term, and what body of writing can we use to determine the validity of the definition. Such is the aim of this essay because we can indeed call a poem “Black”. We can define “Black poetry” as a body of writing written by an African-American in the United States that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of an experience or set of experiences inextricably linked to black people, characterizes a furious call or pursuit of freedom, and attempts to capture the black condition in a language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm. An examination of several works of poetry by various Black scholars should suffice to prove that the definition does hold and that “Black Poetry” is a term that we can use.