William Edward Burghardt Du Bois's 'Of Our Spiritual Strivings'

W.E.B DU BOIS After reading William Edward Burghardt Du Bois’s “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” it’s clear to understand what a hardship African Americans must have gone through during his time. Prejudice was at the forefront and Du Bois wrote about the “vast veil” he metaphorically wore that kept him shut off from much of the world. Du Bois expressed how life had been for him, being a “colored man”. He really makes you feel his pain, when Du Bois states, “How does it feel to be a problem?”(pg 292). You can’t imagine how it must have felt to grow up thinking that just because of the color of your skin you must be a problem. Being the year 2013 we don’t really see color as much, (I know that’s not the case with all people), however during Du Bois’s time I really can’t imagine how unbearable it must have been for the minority. Life’s not easy as a whole, and then to throw in the fact that you’re not good enough just because of the color of your skin is
However now that I have children of my own who are part African American I really worry more about them feeling different or “less than”. My husband is half African American and he grew up in the 1980’s when things were much more accepted than Du Bois’s time. However he still remembers when we tried to make friends with the neighborhood kid and he wouldn’t play with him, but he played with the other kids. When he asked his friend why wont the new kid play with me his friend replied his dad won’t let him play with the “black kid”. Till this day my husband still remembers how bad those words made him feel, and I worry about what other children might ever say to my own children for being different. The world is forever changing, we now have an African American president but never the less we know there will always be ignorant people out there that will always let their stupidity get the best of