But if such men are to be effective they must have some power,—they must be backed by the best public opinion of these communities, and able to wield for their objects and aims such weapons as the experience of the world has taught are indispensable to human progress.
This passage from "The Souls of Black Folk" outlines the essential elements, including power and public backing, required for effective black leadership.
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More from W.E.B. Du Bois
The form and disposition of the laborers’ cabins throughout the Black Belt is to-day the same as in slavery days.
Fully ninety-four per cent have struggled for land and failed, and half of them sit in hopeless serfdom.
In song and exhortation swelled one refrain—Liberty; in his tears and curses the God he implored had Freedom in his right hand.