Of course they are capable,” he cried; “of course they can learn and strive and achieve—” and “Of course,” added the temptation softly, “they do nothing of the sort.” Of all the three temptations, this one struck the deepest.
Du Bois captures the internal struggle of believing in the potential of African Americans while facing societal doubt.
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More from W.E.B. Du Bois
Years have passed away since then,—ten, twenty, forty; forty years of national life, forty years of renewal and development, and yet the swarthy spectre sits in its accustomed seat at the Nation’s feast.
The form and disposition of the laborers’ cabins throughout the Black Belt is to-day the same as in slavery days.
I had thereafter no desire to tear down that veil, to creep through; I held all beyond it in common contempt, and lived above it in a region of blue sky and great wandering shadows.
The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land.