It has been neglected, it has been, and is, half despised, and above all it has been persistently mistaken and misunderstood; but notwithstanding, it still remains as the singular spiritual heritage of the nation and the greatest gift of the Negro people.
Du Bois laments the historical neglect and misunderstanding of the spirituals, yet affirms their enduring status as a unique national spiritual heritage and a profound gift from Black Americans.
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To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.
Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it.
The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land.
But they should not keep these prizes, I said; some, all, I would wrest from them.