The Veil By W. E. B. Dubois Essay

Since the Africans were brought to this country, they have faced oppression and isolation by white Americans. W.E.B. Du Bois wrote a memoir titled The Souls of Black Folk to represent his concerns about the oppression of African Americans and their education. This book provides insight to African Americans’ culture, values and religion and in providing insight to those aspects, he also takes the time to speak about the color-line. The color-line or as he often refers, “the Veil” is an imaginary line that divides white and black people socially, culturally, and religiously. This division of people, although no longer held by law, still exists more than 100 years later. Understanding the oppression they face takes not only an understanding of the Veil but an understanding of how it has held back African …show more content…
Essentially Du Bois is arguing that white students in New England are receiving a better education than African American students in the South due to the color-line. Du Bois explains that there is a “Veil that hangs between [African Americans] and Opportunity” (“The Meaning of Progress” 298). Due to the color of the children’s skin, the children in Alexandria lack the opportunity to succeed that children in New England receive. Not only does Du Bois notice the inequality in opportunity, but also notices the slow push for parents of African American children to educate their children. Children in Du Bois’s school would often leave class and not return for multiple days, their parents claiming that they will “start them again next week” (“The Meaning of Progress” 296); Du Bois knew “that the doubts of the old folks about book-learning had conquered again” (“The Meaning of Progress” 296) and that the children will most likely not return to the school house. Parents, many of whom were childhood slaves, did not see the value in an education through school