When DuBois wrote his story about the first born, this was after congress signed 13th Amendment that got rid of slavery. In his story, he used a Veil as a metaphor to show the racist oppression that was still in the world at that time. Even though the black people or anyone could technically not be slaves anymore, the people in that land, only saw them for the color of their skin. While the character in the story was burying his dead baby, a group of white people drove up. Even in a time of death, skin color played a much greater role over sadness. The white people are reminding the black people, of who they are, and where they belong in that type of world.
