Journal #3: The Souls of Black Folk, Ch. I

Mikaila Garfinkel
English 48B
January 14, 2009
Journal #3: W.E.B Du Bois



"This, then, is the end of his striving: to be a co-worker in the kingdom of culture, to escape both death and isolation, to husband and use his best powers and his latent genius...these powers of single black men flash here and there like falling stars, and die sometimes before the world has rightly gauged their brightness."

This quote is a direct passage from W.E.B. Du Bois"The Souls Of Black Folk", and directly coincides with the title alone. This excerpt explains Du Bois view on slavery and segregation, and how discriminated against African Americans were. Whites, and even Blacks that were accustomed to the unequal life they had been forced to live, and even though it is the end of the civil war, and slavery is not as major of an issue anymore, there is still much racism and inequality that existed. The quote explains how even though it is the "end of striving", and supposedly the Blacks are free, their equal abilities and intelligence is still too often forgotten or ignored. W.E.B Du Bois was a highly educated Black Man, and was the first Black person to receive a P.H.d from Harvard. This quote reflects his belief that Blacks have been wasting there intelligence by continuing to work manual labor, and that they haven't been fighting enough to gain their equal rights. While there had been previous Black leaders, such as Washington, Du Bois believed that too much time had passed for so little change to happen. It appeared that know major changes had occurred except for the end of slavery, and while there were more actions for Blacks to partake in, no respect or being thought of as "American" had happened yet. He feels that he should not be considered an "exceptional" Black man, for it should be considered normal to society for a Black man to enroll in high education, for the civil war had ended, and Blacks were supposed to be free.



In reading "The Souls of Black Folks", compared to Washington's perspective on how to solve the Civil Rights issues with Blacks, he is ready for much more drastic action. He feels that Washington's approach was much too passive, and that it hadn't been effective since his leadership, and Du Bois is ready to take on the new role. I found the quote inter sting, because since Du Bois was such a successful intellect and leader, his own brightness is not wasted. While naturally he did face discrimination since a young age, he did not face the same type of discrimination as poor Southern Blacks did, such as Washington, and it is interesting as to how he is so adamant about taking a more drastic approach to end racism.

“Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest and the playtime.”
-W.E.B. Du Bois