The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1903-06-20
THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK

A1uA Ao1oS DA SO1o' VA'HV AAOS' OAAASe@oO'
A. c. McClurg & Co.. .-y,. --. . 49,
It is probable that quite large per-
centage of the Caucasian people in the
of prejudice which exists here, really
doubt the existence Of souls under black
or colored skins
recently swept over the country, threat
ening the absolute undoing of one-seventh
of the citizens of this land, by the denial
now being made by the South to relegate
all ro-Americans, without regard to
character and Intelligence, to a condition
Black Folk" by Prof. Du Bots, an Afro
American, a graduate of Fisk University,
of Harvard University and Of the Uni.
versity Of Berlin and now professor 47 OF
versity, one Of the most striking books in
contemporary literature.
In his forethought the author says:
Herein lie buried many things which,
if read with patience, may show the
strange meaning of being black here in
the dawning of the twentieth century.
you, gentle reader, for the problem Of the
twentieth century is the problem of the
color line.
Il pray you, then, receive my little book
in all charity, studying my words with
| me, forgiving mistakes and foibles for
sake of the faith and passion that is in
me- and seeking the grain of truth hidden
there.
certain outline, the spiritual world in which
| ten thousand thousand Americans live and
strive. First, in two chapters, have tried
! to show what emancipation meant to
them, and what was it's aftermath. In a
third chapter have pointed out the slow
rise of personal leadership, and criticised
burden of his race to-day. Then, in two
| other chapters I have sketched in swift
| outline the two worlds within and without
! the veil, and thus have come to the CEN
| fr.o1 T,rnh10h1o
have in two chapters studied the struggles
of the massed millions Of the black peas
| antry, and in another. have sought t.. to
make clear the present relations OF the
| sons of master and man.
| Leaving, then, the world of the white
| man, have stepped within the veil, rals-
est recesses-the meaning of it's religion,
! the passion of it's human sorrows, and the
| struggle of it's greater souls.
Before each chapter stands bar OF
the sorrow songs-some echo OF haunting
| melody from the only American music
| which welled up from black souls in the
! dark past. And finally, need add that
! who speak here am bone Of the bone and
| the veil?''
| Book I. is called "Of Our Spiritual
strivings.'' In it he says:
| 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. ALL nevertheless, futter round
it. They approach me in hat-hesltant
| sort of way, eye me curlOuSly or compass
sionately, and then, instead of saying al,
rectly, How does it feel to be a problem
| they say, know an excellent colored man
| in my town; or, I fought at Mechanics
| vile; or, Do not these Southern outrages
make your blood boil? At these smile,
| or am interested, or reduce the boiling to
simmer, as the occasion may require
To the real question, How does it feel to
! be a problem? answer seldom word
1T is peculiar sensation, this double
consciousness, this sense of always look
| ing at ones self through the eyes OF 9TH
| ers, of measuring ones soul by the tape
! of a world that looks on in amused con-
| tempt and pity One ever feels his two
ness-an American, Negro; two souls
| two thoughts, two unreaonciled strivings;
| two warning ideals in one dark body,
whose dogged strength alone keeps 1t
| from being torn asunder.
The third essay IS a criticism of Booker
| T. Washington, full and frank. The au-
! thor says:
| Easily the most striking thing in the
history of the American Negro since 1876
| is the ascendency of Mr. Booker T. Wash
| ington. 1t began at the time when war
| memories and ideals were rapidly passing
| a day of astonishing commercial develop
| ment was dawning; sense OF doubt and
! hesitation overlook the freemen's sons
then it was his leading began. Mr.. Wash
| ington came, with a simple, definite pro-
! gramme, at the psychological moment.
| when the nation was little ashamed OF
| having bestowed so much sentiment on
| Negroes, and was concentrating it's ener-
! gies on dollars. His programme OF lndus
| trial education, Cancellation of the South
| and submission and silence as to civil and
political rights, was not wholly original,
the free Negroes from 1880 up to war time
! had striven to build industrial schools,
and the American Missionary association
| had from the first taught various trades;
| and Price and others had sought way
| of honorable alliance with the best of the
| Southerners. But Mr.. Washington first
ndissolubly linked these things; he put
enthusiasm, unlimited energy, and, per
| feet faith into the programme, and chang
| ed it from a Dypath into verltable way
| If life. And the tale of the methods by
| of human life.
After detailing the greatness of Mr.
! Washington's task and the means by
! which he accomplished his aims and gain
ed the cooperation of both the South and
! the North, he says:
And yet this very singleress of vision
and thorough oneness with his age is a
! though nature must. needs make men
| narrow in order to give them force 80
| MI. Washington's cult has gained unques-
tioning followers MS work mas M0na and
! his enemies are confounded: Today ne
stands as the one recognized spokesman
! of his 10000, 900 fellows, and one OF the
! most notable figures in nation OF 'oooo'
OO0.''
Then he says that among his own PEG
pie Mr.. Washington has encountered the
amounting at times to bitterness and that
/ there is among educated and thoughttul
| Afro-Americans in all parts OF the land a
! feeling of deep regret, sorrow, and appre-
I hensiOn at the wide currency and ascend
| ency which some Of MI Washington
theories have gained. He Continues:
MIR. Washington distinctly asks that
black people give up. at least for. the pres.
] thin QS-1 DOlltlCal power,
insistence on civil rights; 3, higher educa-
! ton of the Negro youth-and concentrate
| all their energies on industrial education
/ the accumulation of wealth, and the con
| citation of the South. This policy has
been courageously and insistently advocat-
!! cd for over fifteen years, and mas oeen
! result of this tender of the palm branch
| what has been the return? In these years
! there have occurred: l. The dlstranchlse-
| ment of the Negro; ?: The legal creation
| the Negro; 8. The steady withdrawal of
! hid from institutions for the higher train
| ing of the Negro.
! These movements are not, to be sure,
| Street results of Mr.. Washington's teach
| ;ngs. but his propaganda has, without
| shadow of doubt. helped their speedier
! accomplishment. The question:, then,
me it aaa
| in economic lines if they are deprived OF
political rights. made servlle caste, ana
! allowed only the most meager change Tor
| developing their exceptional men? If his
| tory and reason give any distinct answer
| to these questions it is an emphatic NO"
| And Mr.. Washington thus faces the triple
| paradox of his career. ): -.s
| 81 He is striving nobly to make Negro
artisans, business men and property own
ers but it is utterly impossible under mod
ern competitive methods. for Worklngmen
and property owners to defend their rights
and exist without the right of suffrage.
80 He insists on thrift and sef-respect,