Away back in the days of bondage they thought to see in one divine event the end of all doubt and disappointment; few men ever worshipped Freedom with half such unquestioning faith as did the American Negro for two centuries.
Du Bois describes the deep and unwavering belief in the transformative power of freedom held by enslaved African Americans throughout their history.
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Three things characterized this religion of the slave,—the Preacher, the Music, and the Frenzy.
The direct result of this system is an all-cotton scheme of agriculture and the continued bankruptcy of the tenant.
This, then, is the end of his striving: to be a co-worker in the kingdom of culture, to escape both death and isolation, to husband and use his best powers and his latent genius.
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.