The Souls of Black Folk

Question 1

What is the veil?

Answer 1

• The Veil is the most frequently mentioned symbol in the book. It functions like a cpsychological manifestation of the color line.
• exists in people’s minds,

Question 2

How does the veil affect white people?

Answer 2

compels white people to structure society according to a racist logic, prevents white people from seeing black people as Americans, and from treating them as fully human.

Question 3

What is the colour line?

Answer 3

• an invisible, but sometimes physical barrier which defining people’s access to opportunities and to institutions from universities to bathrooms to the justice system.
• it seeks to divide the races and is inherently hierachical

Question 4

How does the veil affect black people?

Answer 4

• prevents black people from seeing themselves as they really are
• subverts their vision and ensure that cannot see themselves outside of the negative vision of blackness

Question 5

Link to Good Morning Midnight (from Chapter 1)

Answer 5

• Perpetual self-questioning and doubt which cripples black folk
• Sasha’s utter despair/ Chronic shame

Question 6

What element from The Souls of White Folk links to To The Lighthouse?

Answer 6

• the idea that marginality leads to clarity

- Almost magical

Question 7

What was the economic impact of reconstruction?

Answer 7

• Money and resources were sent to the south to help the transition from a slave-based to a modern economy

Question 8

What was reconstruction?

Answer 8

• The period following the American Civil war (beginning 1865)
• Chattel slavery had just been banned at this point i

Question 9

What is the freedman bureau?

Answer 9

• an organisation which sought to provide education, protect labour rights and channel philanthropic efforts to Black communities.

Question 10

What is notable about the title of the souls of black folk?

Answer 10

• pun on the word soul (anima vs the musical genre)
• grammatical
  This punning ambiguity is significant, because it embodies the duality/ twoness which is explored in the text

Question 11

What ruling occurred in the run up to the book?

Answer 11

• The ‘separate but equal’ consitiutional law
• this law argued that racial segregation did not violate the fourteenth amendment (which guaranteed “equal protection” under the law to all people)