The Theme Of Self-Consciousness In 'Our Spiritual Strivings'

One central idea in “Our Spiritual Strivings” is self-consciousness. Dubois states that “true self- consciousness” is something African Americans don’t have because they are forced to see themselves through the eyes of white people, that African Americans need to know themselves on their own terms instead of white world terms, and that this recognition of their own value is necessary for the attainment of respect for the “ideal of human brotherhood”.
One quote related to self- consciousness is “He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world.” (paragraph 4). DuBois says this to convey the idea that self-consciousness is not by conformity, but by being true to