Here in America, in the few days since Emancipation, the black man’s turning hither and thither in hesitant and doubtful striving has often made his very strength to lose effectiveness, to seem like absence of power, like weakness.
W.E.B. Du Bois: “Here in America, in the few days since Emancipation, the black man’s turning hither and thither in hesitant and doubtful…”
Editor's note · Context
This passage discusses the confusion and uncertainty faced by Black individuals in America shortly after Emancipation.
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