Political Quotes

W.E.B. Du Bois: And yet it was singular that few thought of two Johns,—for the black folk thought of one John, and he was black; and the…

On the recordJanuary 1, 1903
And yet it was singular that few thought of two Johns,—for the black folk thought of one John, and he was black; and the white folk thought of another John, and he was white.
Said by
W.E.B. Du Bois

Editor's note · Context

In "The Souls of Black Folk," this passage highlights the profound racial segregation of thought and identity within a Southern community, even when referring to individuals with the same name.

Share

More from W.E.B. Du Bois

Jan 1, 1903

So the Cotton Kingdom still lives; the world still bows beneath her sceptre.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1903

Fully ninety-four per cent have struggled for land and failed, and half of them sit in hopeless serfdom.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1903

The first decade was merely a prolongation of the vain search for freedom, the boon that seemed ever barely to elude their grasp,—like a tantalizing will-o’-the-wisp, maddening and misleading the headless host.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1903

The shades of the prison-house closed round about us all: walls strait and stubborn to the whitest, but relentlessly narrow, tall, and unscalable to sons of night who must plod darkly on in resignation, or beat unavailing palms against the…

gutenberg.org