In this collection of essays, W. E. B. Du Bois captures the interior life of Black Americans in the early 20th century. He introduces the core concept of “double consciousness”, a consciousness of one’s self, but which falls short of a true self-consciousness, a persistent one. This work is a deeply human portrait of the struggle to merge a fragmented identity: being both Black and American. Du Bois deals with the “colour line” that divided the USA during the racial segregation. By blending personal memoir with history, he shows intellectual hunger of those living “behind the Veil.”
[Du Bois, W. E. B. (2008). The souls of black folk (B. H. Edwards, Ed.). Oxford University Press.]
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