Then the world changed; then civilization, built for culture, rebuilt itself for wilful murder in Europe, Asia, America, and the Southern Seas.
W.E.B. Du Bois: “Then the world changed; then civilization, built for culture, rebuilt itself for wilful murder in Europe, Asia, America…”
Editor's note · Context
Du Bois reflects on the transformation of civilization into a force for violence during global conflicts.
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The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land.
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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.