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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
I thought this would be a quick read and only take me a couple of days to finish. It ended up taking two months. Du Bois is one of those writers you can't just consume. His prose is powerful and poetic. You have to let it sit with you. You have to take in every word, every meaning, sometimes reading it over and over. This should be required reading.
Du Bois’s records on the designed hardship that emerged when freed Black people acquired freedom and made attempts at reconstruction in the late 19th century are arresting and rare.
He calls our attention with the maxim “The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line” and expands on it astute ways. There are great chapters covering housing and tenancy, policing, prisons, formation of Black colleges, farming and rural life in the Southern states, Black art and music, epochal economic landscapes and much more. Though antiquated in terms of application, they are still exceedingly relevant.
A personal fav for me was the musical notation that opened every other chapter along with chapter delving into their historical significance (the last one).
He calls our attention with the maxim “The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line” and expands on it astute ways. There are great chapters covering housing and tenancy, policing, prisons, formation of Black colleges, farming and rural life in the Southern states, Black art and music, epochal economic landscapes and much more. Though antiquated in terms of application, they are still exceedingly relevant.
A personal fav for me was the musical notation that opened every other chapter along with chapter delving into their historical significance (the last one).
What is there even to say about this??
The Souls of Black Folk is an incredibly well written account of what it is to be a black man in the United States, tragically relevant over a century after it was first written. Somehow a sociological analysis of black culture, a political rebuttal to the work of Booker T. Washington, a personal memoir, and a fictional allegory all wrapped up into one exceptional work.
I think that this should be required reading for all Americans. White and black people can get so much from this. I highly recommend it.
The Souls of Black Folk is an incredibly well written account of what it is to be a black man in the United States, tragically relevant over a century after it was first written. Somehow a sociological analysis of black culture, a political rebuttal to the work of Booker T. Washington, a personal memoir, and a fictional allegory all wrapped up into one exceptional work.
I think that this should be required reading for all Americans. White and black people can get so much from this. I highly recommend it.
"And herein lies the tragedy of the age: not that men are poor,--all men know something of poverty; not that men are wicked, -who is good? not that men are ignorant,-what is Truth? Nay, but that men know so little of men."
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside,
And naked on the Air of Heaven ride,
Were’t not a Shame – were’t not a Shame for him
In this clay carcase crippled to abide?
And naked on the Air of Heaven ride,
Were’t not a Shame – were’t not a Shame for him
In this clay carcase crippled to abide?
This beautiful book, written in 1903, is about race and America. It is a collection of essays; some history, some critique, some stories, some journals. They are gathered together to form a comprehensive picture of life for the African American at the turn of the 20th century. It’s author, W.E.B. De Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, writer and editor.
Reading this book shook me and, more than once, left me speechless. However, this book is not a shocking book, full of the horrors of racism and America’s dark past. What shook me was the shear strength of character, integrity and humanity of De Bois. His prose is elegant, his observations keen and balanced, his conclusions measured, his stance humble. However, he is not passive, not content with the status quo and not very interested with sacrificial compromise.
Du Bois has much and more to say about race in America over 100 years later. Similar to Between the world and me, it builds an unshakable picture of life for people of color in the United States. DuBois describes the internal mindset and self image that has developed in a culture with the baggage America has with race. This clearer understanding forced me to wrestle with my own self image and and acknowledge the role being white plays in my understanding of the world. That is why I find this book so important. Genuine opportunities for personal insight as a result of the lived perspective of another person are a gift. I am extremely thankful for the gift that I found in this book.
Originally published on mcmanus.io
Reading this book shook me and, more than once, left me speechless. However, this book is not a shocking book, full of the horrors of racism and America’s dark past. What shook me was the shear strength of character, integrity and humanity of De Bois. His prose is elegant, his observations keen and balanced, his conclusions measured, his stance humble. However, he is not passive, not content with the status quo and not very interested with sacrificial compromise.
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 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 thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.
The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, — this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self.
Du Bois has much and more to say about race in America over 100 years later. Similar to Between the world and me, it builds an unshakable picture of life for people of color in the United States. DuBois describes the internal mindset and self image that has developed in a culture with the baggage America has with race. This clearer understanding forced me to wrestle with my own self image and and acknowledge the role being white plays in my understanding of the world. That is why I find this book so important. Genuine opportunities for personal insight as a result of the lived perspective of another person are a gift. I am extremely thankful for the gift that I found in this book.
Originally published on mcmanus.io
emotional
informative
reflective
challenging
informative
slow-paced
DuBois is incredibly verbose, but that’s to be expected with writers of the time period.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Racial slurs
This is a stunning work that bears the test of time (almost unfortunately so, since racial disparities are still such a glaring problem and racism continues albeit in subtler ways than what Du Bois describes). I have read excerpts of this before, which is fairly easy since each chapter stands alone pretty well. Finally got around to finishing the complete work.
Du Bois' work is not just important and incisive, it's also beautiful. From critiques of Booker T. Washington to poetic introspections, his writing is magnificent. I wish he had written a treatise on how to criticize a colleague because he dismantles Washington's problematic ideas with such grace while still preserving the character of the individual. I have never seen this done quite so effectively.
Beyond the information and content, however, this writing is art. It is picturesque, moving, wondrous. I charge the most stoic of you to read his chapter on the birth and death of his son without crying. There are few things as poignant in the English language.
This is a must-read. Glad I finished it.
Du Bois' work is not just important and incisive, it's also beautiful. From critiques of Booker T. Washington to poetic introspections, his writing is magnificent. I wish he had written a treatise on how to criticize a colleague because he dismantles Washington's problematic ideas with such grace while still preserving the character of the individual. I have never seen this done quite so effectively.
Beyond the information and content, however, this writing is art. It is picturesque, moving, wondrous. I charge the most stoic of you to read his chapter on the birth and death of his son without crying. There are few things as poignant in the English language.
This is a must-read. Glad I finished it.