He heard the hateful clank of their chains; he felt them cringe and grovel, and there rose within him a protest and a prophecy.
W.E.B. Du Bois: “He heard the hateful clank of their chains; he felt them cringe and grovel, and there rose within him a protest and a…”
Editor's note · Context
From a chapter reflecting on his early life and education, this describes the awakening of his sense of mission in response to the suffering of his people.
Share
More from W.E.B. Du Bois
Around us the history of the land has centred for thrice a hundred years; out of the nation’s heart we have called all that was best to throttle and subdue all that was worst; fire and blood, prayer and sacrifice, have billowed over this…
So wofully unorganized is sociological knowledge that the meaning of progress, the meaning of “swift” and “slow” in human doing, and the limits of human perfectability, are veiled, unanswered sphinxes on the shores of science.
Let the ears of a guilty people tingle with truth, and seventy millions sigh for the righteousness which exalteth nations, in this drear day when human brotherhood is mockery and a snare.
So long as the world stands meekly dumb before such questions, shall this nation proclaim its ignorance and unhallowed prejudices by denying freedom of opportunity to those who brought the Sorrow Songs to the Seats of the Mighty?