Political Quotes

W.E.B. Du Bois: “The rod of empire that passed from the hands of Southern gentlemen in 1865, partly by force, partly by their own…”

On the recordJanuary 1, 1903
The rod of empire that passed from the hands of Southern gentlemen in 1865, partly by force, partly by their own petulance, has never returned to them.
Said by
W.E.B. Du Bois

Editor's note · Context

This passage from "The Souls of Black Folk" describes the post-Civil War shift of political and economic power away from the traditional Southern elite.

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