Souls of Black Folks
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W.E.B Du Bois wrote The Souls of Black Folk to express his grief over the Negros' current situation. It is appropriate that each chapter of the book begins with a sorrowful song of freedom or of grief. At the same time, he expresses his hope that a race that has been enslaved and mistreated may find equality and be given a chance to achieve success. In his writing, he often uses a veil as metaphor for the way the Negro sees himself and the way he is perceived by the white population. He also uses The Souls of Black Folk as an opportunity to rebuke Booker T. Washington for his willingness to exchange industrial education for civil and political silence and surrender of the Negro.
The veil symbolizes to Du Bois both a blindfold and a noose on the existence of "ten thousand" Americans who live and strive invisible and separated from their white brothers and sisters. Du Bois urges the Negro race to lift the veil and show the pain and sorrow of a persevering people...