Political Quotes

W.E.B. Du Bois: They came to New York and Henry Ward Beecher dared to welcome them, even though the metropolitan dailies sneered at his…

On the recordJanuary 1, 1903
They came to New York and Henry Ward Beecher dared to welcome them, even though the metropolitan dailies sneered at his “Nigger Minstrels.” So their songs conquered till they sang across the land and across the sea, before Queen and Kaiser, in Scotland and Ireland, Holland and Switzerland.
Said by
W.E.B. Du Bois

Editor's note · Context

This passage illustrates the global triumph of the Fisk Jubilee Singers' music despite initial racial prejudice and criticism.

Share

More from W.E.B. Du Bois

Jan 1, 1903

I know little of music and can say nothing in technical phrase, but I know something of men, and knowing them, I know that these songs are the articulate message of the slave to the world.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1903

Through all the sorrow of the Sorrow Songs there breathes a hope—a faith in the ultimate justice of things.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1903

Let the ears of a guilty people tingle with truth, and seventy millions sigh for the righteousness which exalteth nations, in this drear day when human brotherhood is mockery and a snare.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1903

Actively we have woven ourselves with the very warp and woof of this nation,—we fought their battles, shared their sorrow, mingled our blood with theirs, and generation after generation have pleaded with a headstrong, careless people to…

gutenberg.org