"He simply wishes 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 door of Opportunity closed roughly in his face."
The Souls of Black Folk was written in 1903, after the
abolishment of slavery, but not after the end of institutional racism and its
heavy consequences. During this time the
main governmental focus was to keep the Union together after the Civil War,
which often that meant allowing ex-Confederates to be reinstated (after vowing
to the Union) in powerful and influential positions. By doing this anti-black,
pro-slavery individuals were given access to creating policy and legislation.
By allowing these people back into power it was also an act of perpetuating
internal groundwork of institutional racism. That is why after Emancipation
people of color had to experience and live through multiple forms of terrorism.
Besides general acts of violence and racism there were many freedoms that were
not being granted to black persons such as, land, education, family,
employment, protection, justice, law, policy, a voice in court, mobility, etc.
These are areas of life that are often taken for granted and not even thought
about. These are simplistic yet powerful concepts and W.E.B. DuBois is asking his
readers to pay attention.
W.E.B. Dubois is a passionate writer who creates imagery with
his words by connecting ideas that are often hard to comprehend. Within the
first chapter of The Souls of Black Folk the
reader is asked to challenge their previous form of thought and attitudes
around Black persons and their histories. He is asking people to look deeper into
what they think they know, because it is complex, hidden and overlooked. DuBois
is making it clear that although Blacks cannot be slaves that does not mean
they are free. It does not mean they have the same access to life, to liberty,
to the pursuit of happiness. How are you as a Black individual supposed to
obtain these aspects of American life when they built on the backs, blood, and
dead bodies of their race, which were enslaved and held captive?
Without cultural and historical reminders like DuBois’s
writings it is very easy for the United States to pretend slavery, slave codes,
Jim Crow, segregation, lynching, and disentrancement (to name a few) ever
existed. DuBois is asking us to not allow the terrorism to be ignored and continue,
that will only again perpetuate the system.
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