It is not so much that they fear that the Negro will strike if he gets a chance, but rather that they assume with curious unanimity that he has reason to strike, that any other persons in his circumstances or treated as he is would rebel.
This quote highlights the pervasive fear and assumptions held by white society regarding the potential for rebellion among oppressed Black individuals.
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More from W.E.B. Du Bois
Away back in the days of bondage they thought to see in one divine event the end of all doubt and disappointment; few men ever worshipped Freedom with half such unquestioning faith as did the American Negro for two centuries.
To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.
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.
Fully ninety-four per cent have struggled for land and failed, and half of them sit in hopeless serfdom.