In W.E.B Du Bois, “The Souls of Black Folk”, he makes a strong point for highlighting the division among Black and White Americans that’s continued post-slavery. What’s interesting about Du Bois’ perspective, especially in comparison to Hurston’s, is how he experiences being black. He does talk about his individual experience but many times it feels as though he shifts to a perspective of one that is more collective. He experiences being black as being essentially it’s own entity, a part of him that defines him in society.
In both of the texts there is no question of the divide that is present among the two races, the question is only in how that divide affects them as an individual and as a member of that race in society. What Du Bois does rather effectively, is talk about both while it feels like the other text focuses more on the former. While it is important to note that every person is going to have different individual experiences, such as Hurston’s assertion that she can both feel and not feel her blackness in a more individual perspective, there are many times where Du Bois is clearly looking more at the outside perspective. He’s looking at his experiences as black man from lenses of his own race as well as the other to form a bigger picture of a divide that he sees within society. This reads much more powerful, as it feels like he is not just speaking for himself in his text.
“To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in the land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.” Not only is this line the indication of the fact that he is speaking farther than just his individual self, he’s making a serious point in analyzing the position black people are faced with in society. By pointing out that while it may be one thing to be poor, it is another thing to be both poor and black, he’s highlighting racial differences and illustrating a concept that is still very relevant in conversation today: white privilege. He affirms that as a race, black folks are encountering hardship within itself and are in the midst of a battle to get on an equal level to their white peers. He capitalizes on that throughout the text, particularly a lot towards the end. He clearly outlines the history of how they have got here and how this divide is present as well as remaining hopeful that as a collective black folks will be able to integrate into American society, not by trying to be just like their white peers but by offering something to add to it, enriching it.
Throughout reading Du Bois text, it felt as if a lot of what he was saying was relevant to today, not only showing how much the divide is still present, but just how much his focus on society rather than the individual came through. That’s what his text does so well, it analyzes the racial divide between society that has continued to this day and that’s why it is able to be so relevant to the current climate many years after it was written. It sheds light on all that is a racially divided America and begs the reader to recognize this and strive for something better.
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