Thus the temptation of Hate grew and shadowed the growing child,—gliding stealthily into his laughter, fading into his play, and seizing his dreams by day and night with rough, rude turbulence.
W.E.B. Du Bois: “Thus the temptation of Hate grew and shadowed the growing child,—gliding stealthily into his laughter, fading into his…”
Editor's note · Context
This passage from The Souls of Black Folk vividly describes how the temptation of hate subtly and forcefully permeates the life and dreams of a growing Black child.
Share
More from W.E.B. Du Bois
Our song, our toil, our cheer, and warning have been given to this nation in blood-brotherhood.
Actively we have woven ourselves with the very warp and woof of this nation,—we fought their battles, shared their sorrow, mingled our blood with theirs, and generation after generation have pleaded with a headstrong, careless people to…
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…
Such an assumption is the arrogance of peoples irreverent toward Time and ignorant of the deeds of men.