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The Souls of Black Folk: The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois

Book by W. E. B. Du Bois · 14 quotes · Men, Black, Humans

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The Souls of Black Folk: The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois Quotes

“The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, - this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost... He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American.”

MenSelfLostWishConsciousLongingAfrican AmericanManhoodStrifeSelf ConsciousMergingDubois
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“...in any land, in any country under modern free competition, to lay any class of weak and despised people, be they white, black, or blue, at the political mercy of their stronger, richer, and more resourceful fellows, is a temptation which human nature seldom has withstood and seldom will withstand.”

PeopleHumansCountryPoliticalBlackWhiteClassModernLandHuman NatureWeakMercyStrongerBlueFellowsLaysCompetitionTemptationDespisedResourceful
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“We cannot hope, then, in this generation, or for several generations, that the mass of the whites can be brought to assume that close sympathetic and self-sacrificing leadership of the blacks which their present situation so eloquently demands. Such leadership, such social teaching and example, must come from the blacks themselves.”

SelfSocialSituationGenerationsSacrificeTeachingExampleDemandMassAssumingPatriotismSympatheticThis GenerationPresent Situation
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“The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land. Whatever of good may have come in these years of change, the shadow of a deep disappointment rests upon the Negro people,—a disappointment all the more bitter because the unattained ideal was unbounded save by the simple ignorance of a lowly people.”

PeopleYearsMayFoundNationsSinSimpleLandIgnoranceShadowIdealsDisappointmentBitterPromised LandDeep Disappointment
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“Out of the temptation of Hate, and burned by the fire of Despair, triumphant over Doubt, and steeled by Sacrifice against Humiliation, . . . He bent to all the gibes and prejudices, to all hatred and discrimination with that rare courtesy which is the armor of pure souls. . . . he simply worked, inspiring the young, rebuking the old, helping the weak, guiding the strong.”

SoulHelpingYoungHateStrongDoubtFireSacrificePureDespairWeakHatredPrejudiceDiscriminationTemptationBurnedBentHumiliationCourtesyArmorTriumphantPure Soul
Book:The Souls of Black Folk: The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois
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