The Souls of Black Folk (1903)

W. E. B. Du Bois · 1 Feb 1903

The book opens with

The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line

Their wordsThis meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader; for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line.

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Our reading
The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line

Their wordsThis meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader; for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line.
Our reading
Black Americans live with a double consciousness, always seeing themselves through the eyes of a contemptuous world

Their wordsIt 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.
Our reading
Black Americans need schooling more than ever, both practical training and higher culture

Their wordsThe training of the schools we need to-day more than ever,-the training of deft hands, quick eyes and ears, and above all the broader, deeper, higher culture of gifted minds and pure hearts.
Our reading
Black Americans need the vote in self-defence, or nothing will save them from a second slavery

Their wordsThe power of the ballot we need in sheer self-defence,-else what shall save us from a second slavery?
Our reading
Black Americans should support Booker T. Washington's thrift and industrial training but firmly oppose his acceptance of injustice

Their wordsSo far as Mr. Washington preaches Thrift, Patience, and Industrial Training for the masses, we must hold up his hands and strive with him, rejoicing in his honors and glorying in the strength of this Joshua called of God and of man to lead the headless host. But so far as Mr. Washington apologizes for injustice, North or South, does not rightly value the privilege and duty of voting, belittles the emasculating effects of caste distinctions, and opposes the higher training and ambition of our brighter minds,-so far as he, the South, or the Nation, does this,-we must unceasingly and firmly oppose them.
Our reading
Making the blacksmith a scholar is almost, but not quite, as silly as making the scholar a blacksmith

Their wordsAnd to seek to make the blacksmith a scholar is almost as silly as the more modern scheme of making the scholar a blacksmith; almost, but not quite.
Our reading
A university exists above all to connect real life with growing knowledge, not merely to teach bread-winning

Their wordsThe function of the university is not simply to teach bread-winning, or to furnish teachers for the public schools or to be a centre of polite society; it is, above all, to be the organ of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment which forms the secret of civilization.

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