Just as centuries ago it was no easy thing for the serf to escape into the freedom of town-life, even so to-day there are hindrances laid in the way of county laborers.
W.E.B. Du Bois: “Just as centuries ago it was no easy thing for the serf to escape into the freedom of town-life, even so to-day there…”
Editor's note · Context
Du Bois draws a historical parallel, comparing the difficulty of medieval serfs escaping to urban freedom with the contemporary obstacles faced by Black county laborers.
Share
More from W.E.B. Du Bois
The things evidently borrowed from the surrounding world undergo characteristic change when they enter the mouth of the slave.
Around us the history of the land has centred for thrice a hundred years; out of the nation’s heart we have called all that was best to throttle and subdue all that was worst; fire and blood, prayer and sacrifice, have billowed over this…
To me Jubilee Hall seemed ever made of the songs themselves, and its bricks were red with the blood and dust of toil.
The ten master songs I have mentioned tell in word and music of trouble and exile, of strife and hiding; they grope toward some unseen power and sigh for rest in the End.