Political Quotes

W.E.B. Du Bois: The black men of America have a duty to perform, a duty stern and delicate,—a forward movement to oppose a part of the…

On the recordJanuary 1, 1903
The black men of America have a duty to perform, a duty stern and delicate,—a forward movement to oppose a part of the work of their greatest leader.
Said by
W.E.B. Du Bois

Editor's note · Context

Du Bois articulates the challenging responsibility of Black Americans to critically engage with and, if necessary, challenge the strategies of their own leaders.

Share

More from W.E.B. Du Bois

Jan 1, 1903

By 1830 slavery seemed hopelessly fastened on the South, and the slaves thoroughly cowed into submission.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1903

To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1903

Thus we have two great and hardly reconcilable streams of thought and ethical strivings; the danger of the one lies in anarchy, that of the other in hypocrisy.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1903

With other black boys the strife was not so fiercely sunny: their youth shrunk into tasteless sycophancy, or into silent hatred of the pale world about them and mocking distrust of everything white; or wasted itself in a bitter cry, Why…

gutenberg.org