On the recordJanuary 1, 1903
He felt his poverty; without a cent, without a home, without land, tools, or savings, he had entered into competition with rich, landed, skilled neighbors.
Said by
W.E.B. Du Bois
Source
gutenberg.orgW.E.B. Du Bois: “He felt his poverty; without a cent, without a home, without land, tools, or savings, he had entered into competition…”
Editor's note · Context
This passage details the severe economic challenges and lack of resources faced by newly freed Black people in the competitive post-slavery society.
Share
More from W.E.B. Du Bois
Jan 1, 1903
He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world.
Jan 1, 1903
But they should not keep these prizes, I said; some, all, I would wrest from them.
Jan 1, 1903
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.
Jan 1, 1903
Away with the black man’s ballot, by force or fraud,—and behold the suicide of a race!