Du Bois - Response to the veil Flashcards
What key political question does Du Bois pose regarding the Veil?
The question of whether the Veil can be lifted is at the heart of his political philosophy.
How does Du Bois describe his early feelings about the Veil?
Early in The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois writes: “I had thereafter no desire to tear down that veil… I held all beyond it in common contempt.”
What does this youthful ‘contempt’ signify?
This suggests a youthful defiance, a sense of moral superiority over a society that marginalises him.
How do Du Bois’s feelings about the Veil evolve over time?
Yet, as the years pass, this contempt gives way to disappointment: “the words I longed for… were theirs, not mine.”
What was Booker t. Washington’s approach in the Atlanta Compromise?
In the famous Atlanta Compromise, Booker T. Washington advocated a politics of economic self-reliance through vocational training, arguing that Black Americans should forgo immediate demands for civil rights in favour of economic strength.
Why can’t the Veil be lifted through personal excellence alone?
The internalisation of exclusion means that the Veil cannot be lifted through personal excellence alone—it must be confronted structurally, and democratically.
Why did Du Bois reject Washington’s approach?
Du Bois rejected this approach, seeing it as reinforcing the Veil rather than piercing it.
What did Washington’s phrase “cast down your bucket where you are” imply?
Washington’s call for Black people to “cast down your bucket where you are” required acceptance of second-class citizenship, a retreat into the lower caste.
How did Du Bois think this strategy deepen double consciousness?
Du Bois argued that this strategy deepened the condition of double consciousness: it asked Black Americans to accept economic uplift at the cost of political voice and cultural autonomy.
What was Du Bois’s fundamental disagreement with assimilation?
For Du Bois, the Veil cannot be lifted through assimilation into a racist structure. It can only be challenged by asserting full political, cultural, and economic citizenship.
What did Du Bois believe about the power of education?
Du Bois believed in the transformative potential of education—not only as a tool for self-development but as a means of achieving democratic participation.
What was the “Talented Tenth” idea?
His early theory of the “Talented Tenth” placed faith in an intellectual vanguard to lead Black Americans into democratic life.
What did Du Bois’s argue in The Crisis about education?
In The Crisis, he argued that education alone would not free Black people from the Veil if the surrounding society remained unchanged.
What example from Souls illustrates education’s limits?
He offers a vivid example in The Souls of Black Folk with ‘Of the Coming of John,’ where an educated Black man, finds himself burdened rather than liberated by his knowledge, as he confronts continual oppression returns to his community only to find himself alienated—his knowledge not liberating, but isolating.
How did Du Bois shift regarding economics in the interwar years?
Du Bois’s later writings, particularly in Black Reconstruction and The Crisis, tie the lifting of the Veil to economic reorganisation.
What must happen for education to lift the Veil?
For education to lift the Veil, it must be met by a restructured public sphere, one that welcomes Black intellectual life and reshapes collective values.
What systems did Du Bois critique in this later interwar period?
He critiques both capitalist exploitation and socialist movements that ignore race.
What warning does Du Bois give about class-based solutions?
He warns that class-based solutions without racial consciousness risk perpetuating the Veil.
What economic model does Du Bois propose instead?
Du Bois proposes the formation of a cooperative Black economy, rooted in community uplift and purchasing power.
What does Du Bois say about democracy in modern industry?
In his words, ‘there is no universal suffrage in modern industry’—true democracy demands not just political enfranchisement, but also economic participation.
How can economic structures begin to thin the Veil?
Through cooperatives, socialised services, and communal resilience, Du Bois envisions a foundation upon which the Veil may be thinned—though not erased—by building power from within.
What historical moment does Du Bois identify as a near-lifting of the Veil?
Du Bois repeatedly returns to Reconstruction as the closest moment the United States has come to lifting the Veil.
How does Du Bois describe Reconstruction in Black Reconstruction?
In Black Reconstruction, he describes it as ‘a brief moment in the sun,’ when multiracial democracy briefly flourished before being violently overturned.
What does Du Bois believe is needed to lift the Veil today?
For Du Bois, the possibility of lifting the Veil rests on recovering the radical promise of Reconstruction—not just through policy, but through a moral awakening.
