Souls of Black Folk

His choice in poetry clearly illustrates the struggle of colored Americans in the early 20th century. Schiller’s poem metaphorically explains that to “proclaim your might”, you must choose a pure and strong route to recognition. This is more or less Du Bois’ vision of progress for colored Americans. His chapter keeps in line with the themes of the poem, describing his early times as a teacher in Tennessee. As a student at Fisk University, he spent significant time during the summer vacation teaching in Tennessee. They were taught there, at Fisk, that the hills “beyond the veil” was theirs alone. Thus, Du Bois found himself wandering to the superintendent’s course and found it segregated, with whites being taught in the morning and blacks taught in the evening. He says that the “rough world was softened by laughter and song. I remember how – but I wander.” The author relates that even in a segregated experience, he found community among his fellow students. However, he still finds great difficulty in being separated from whites, which makes him seem as a wanderer. After he leaves the Teacher’s Institute, Du Bois travels the countryside seeking a school in need of a teacher. Many times, he is denied. Though he does not say, due to the segregated experience, he may have been denied on the premise of his color. So he traveled the dusty roads for many miles until he meets a girl named Josie, who sends him to a little school near her town. He says that her family is gentle and ignorant of the world, while Josie is hardworking and spirited. At last, he goes to the school where he is to teach, finding that it is an old corn shed used by a white farmer until it was made into a schoolhouse. The building is old and decrepit, with many safety hazards for the children, and there were only wooden benches to sit upon. Du Bois held a class of thirty students, where Josie was the best of them. She had aspirations to be schooled in Nashville, and worked tirelessly for his class. However, the rest of the class seemed to be restless and farm children, often called away to attend family matters. Du Bois found himself convincing the parents that schooling was important, only that the children would stay a week or so until called home again. He used Cicero’s “pro Archia Poeta” in order to convince them. On Fridays, he would go home with the children, presumably to stay in their homes. He found that many did not own a kitchen, and were up before the sunrise to start their work, and lived hard lives. In order to keep children in school, he had to travel and visit “where life was less lovely”. He goes on to explain that the town Alexandria was deeply segregated. In the main town, there were shops and churches, nestled on the side of a hill. On its reverse was the “black town”, which was much more run down and divided away from the rest of Alexandria. Du Bois stated that Sundays were his favorite time to go into town, and experience the culture behind the veil of segregation. At Church, they sang the old hymns, before springing into the “soft melody and mighty cadences of Negro song”. Most importantly, Du Bois explains the difference between white Alexandria and its black segment. He called it a separate entity from the white side of the village, where everyone shared a mutual trodden life; they had poor land, poor wages, and poor wealth. Furthermore, Du Bois states that they were blocked from Opportunity, being behind the Veil.