The one great measure which finally stopped the slave-trade forever was, naturally, the abolition of slavery, i.e., the giving to the Negro the right to sell his labor at a price consistent with his own welfare.
W.E.B. Du Bois: “The one great measure which finally stopped the slave-trade forever was, naturally, the abolition of slavery, i.e., the…”
Editor's note · Context
Du Bois emphasizes the importance of abolishing slavery as a means to end the slave trade and empower African Americans economically.
Share
More from W.E.B. Du Bois
Three things characterized this religion of the slave,—the Preacher, the Music, and the Frenzy.
It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.
To him, so far as he thought and dreamed, slavery was indeed the sum of all villainies, the cause of all sorrow, the root of all prejudice; Emancipation was the key to a promised land of sweeter beauty than ever stretched before the eyes…
They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then, instead of saying directly, How does it feel to be a problem? they say, I know an excellent colored man in my town; or, I fought at…