But the same system has in other cases resulted in the refusal of whole communities to recognize the right of a Negro to change his habitation and to be master of his own fortunes.
Du Bois contrasts the potential benefits of patronage with its frequent outcome of denying Black individuals the right to self-determination and mobility.
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More from W.E.B. Du Bois
So wofully unorganized is sociological knowledge that the meaning of progress, the meaning of “swift” and “slow” in human doing, and the limits of human perfectability, are veiled, unanswered sphinxes on the shores of science.
Our song, our toil, our cheer, and warning have been given to this nation in blood-brotherhood.
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…
But whichever it is, the meaning is always clear: that sometime, somewhere, men will judge men by their souls and not by their skins.