They were neither kings nor wise men, but they came with every significance--perhaps even greater--than that which the kings bore in the days of old.
W.E.B. Du Bois: “They were neither kings nor wise men, but they came with every significance--perhaps even greater--than that which the…”
Editor's note · Context
Du Bois acknowledges the significance of ordinary people, suggesting their importance surpasses that of historical rulers.
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Away back in the days of bondage they thought to see in one divine event the end of all doubt and disappointment; few men ever worshipped Freedom with half such unquestioning faith as did the American Negro for two centuries.
But they should not keep these prizes, I said; some, all, I would wrest from them.
The holocaust of war, the terrors of the Ku-Klux Klan, the lies of carpet-baggers, the disorganization of industry, and the contradictory advice of friends and foes, left the bewildered serf with no new watchword beyond the old cry for…
The ballot, which before he had looked upon as a visible sign of freedom, he now regarded as the chief means of gaining and perfecting the liberty with which war had partially endowed him.