Political Quotes

W.E.B. Du Bois: It was the ideal of “book-learning”; the curiosity, born of compulsory ignorance, to know and test the power of the…

On the recordJanuary 1, 1903
It was the ideal of “book-learning”; the curiosity, born of compulsory ignorance, to know and test the power of the cabalistic letters of the white man, the longing to know.
Said by
W.E.B. Du Bois

Editor's note · Context

From his seminal work, this passage identifies the emerging ideal among Black Americans as "book-learning," driven by a deep curiosity to overcome enforced ignorance and understand the power of knowledge.

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