Political Quotes

W.E.B. Du Bois: No sooner had Northern armies touched Southern soil than this old question, newly guised, sprang from the earth,—What…

On the recordJanuary 1, 1903
No sooner had Northern armies touched Southern soil than this old question, newly guised, sprang from the earth,—What shall be done with Negroes?
Said by
W.E.B. Du Bois

Editor's note · Context

Du Bois observes that the question of what to do with Black people immediately arose as Union armies advanced into the South during the Civil War.

Share

More from W.E.B. Du Bois

Jan 1, 1903

He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1903

All this segregation by color is largely independent of that natural clustering by social grades common to all communities.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1903

Alas, with the years all this fine contempt began to fade; for the words I longed for, and all their dazzling opportunities, were theirs, not mine.

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