Political Quotes

W.E.B. Du Bois: “And yet, being a problem is a strange experience,—peculiar even for one who has never been anything else, save perhaps…”

On the recordJanuary 1, 1903
And yet, being a problem is a strange experience,—peculiar even for one who has never been anything else, save perhaps in babyhood and in Europe.
Said by
W.E.B. Du Bois

Editor's note · Context

This quote reflects on the unique and constant experience of being perceived as a "problem" due to one's race in America.

Share

More from W.E.B. Du Bois

Jan 1, 1903

But whichever it is, the meaning is always clear: that sometime, somewhere, men will judge men by their souls and not by their skins.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1903

So long as the world stands meekly dumb before such questions, shall this nation proclaim its ignorance and unhallowed prejudices by denying freedom of opportunity to those who brought the Sorrow Songs to the Seats of the Mighty?

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1903

Hear my cry, O God the Reader; vouchsafe that this my book fall not still-born into the world wilderness.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1903

Such an assumption is the arrogance of peoples irreverent toward Time and ignorant of the deeds of men.

gutenberg.org