“…this American World- a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world.” As a black male in America, this quote immediately struck me. W.E.B. Du Bois put into words an internal struggle that is just as relevant today as it was in his time: the role of the black man in American society. From the first day African slaves were introduced to American soil, men were perpetually separated from their families, tearing them from their identity as fathers and husbands. Fast forward to the time when W.E.B. Du Bois wrote this book, African Americans were barely second rate citizens. Black men and women were constantly reminded of their inferiority with segregated facilities, lynchings, and policies enforced to keep them from improving their conditions. America was a white person’s world, and all Black people were good for was serving white people. Jump ahead to today, and the black man still has many roles he must play. To be successful, it often seems as though one must turn his back on blackness and attempt to fit as opposed to stand out. “He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.”

               One part of this bok that confused me was when Du Bois uses the word Holocaust to describe the “war” on black people still raging in the decade following the civil war. This work was created in 1903, more than four decades before the term was coined to represent the genocide of European Jews and other “unfavorable” races. I did not know that holocaust was its own stand alone word, but a simple bing search told me that it can denote one of two things. Either, “destruction or slaughter on a mass scale, especially caused by fire or nuclear war.” or, “a Jewish sacrificial offering that is burned completely on an altar.” This is interesting and explains why the word is used in its current context, but the fact that W.E.B. Du Bois knew the word all the way back then was perhaps the most profound takeaway. During his time, African Americans were often forced to either self-educate, or live in the shadow of ignorance. Although Du Bois had escaped this and become an extremely impressive scholar, his Brothers and sisters who needed his work the most, who needed the hope of hearing that there are others who experienced their strife but rose above it, did not have access to it due to illiteracy.

In the Reading Of Our Spiritual Strivingsby W.E.B. Du Bois, the author discusses the life of an African American during the time of his life.  He talks about how African Americans are still seen as a problem to society even after given all the rights of any other person in the nation, and also the “double-consciousness” that African Americans have forced on them by society that prohibits them from successfully integrating into American society. The writer seems deeply troubled by these occurrences in society and wants the injustice dealt with because many gifted African Americans are being looked over when they have as much credibility as any other person.

“I know an excellent colored man in my town; or, I fought at Mechanicsville; or, Do not these Southern outrages make your blood boil?”, these are all phrases that the author hears much too often and he argues that these statements are just a way of telling him the he and his entire race is a problem and not really welcome into American society.  This is the topic of the entire reading and he goes into depth in explaining all the ways it effects the African American community.  He refers to America as “a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world.” This is how he first introduces that idea of the double consciousness that is plaguing his community. America wants African Americans to change.  They want them to forget their heritage and their old cultures and do thing exactly the way things are done in America.  He believes that society thinks they are trying to change America in order to make it a second Africa, but that is far from the truth. The blending together of both cultures is a beautiful thing and makes for a more culturally diverse society, but instead he states that “One ever feels a two-ness, — an American, a negro”.  He says that a major goal of society should be to foster the traits and talents of the Negro, not against other races, but towards the good of society and the betterment of the nation.  He also points out that African Americans seeking an education are not given the same opportunities as their counter parts, starting from a young age. He sees this as a disservice to society as society will miss out on the talents and skills of brilliant individuals just because of the one-dimensional thinking of the majority.

There is however hope in this reading. The right for a black man to vote is a visible symbol for their freedom. It is the key to attaining resect in the eyes of society and also protect them from a “Second-slavery”.  The author pleads with the reader to come together as a group, because only together will they have enough power to make a real change in society. Through common ideals and political power things can be done to better themselves now and for the future of society.

            I found this text to be extremely interesting and, even though it was written over one hundred years ago, it felt very modern in both its style and its content. Du Bois painted a picture of the progression of what it was like to be black in America from the time of emancipation until his current moment. He starts of the text by discussing the common experience he has of people asking him what it is like to be him – “a problem” – in society, but they often dance around the question and attempt to try to relate to him. Regarding the actual question, Du Bois says, “All, nonetheless, flutter round it.” The line instantly reminded me of one of our class discussions in which we talked about how American history hardly addresses any harmful and shameful events from its past. American historians have notoriously left of the awful details of things that white Americans have done to other groups of people in the past, and the education system in America often does not teach the other sides of these stories. America’s tendency to avoid or “flutter round” these topics is harmful in that it encourages ignorance and has created a lurking stigma – which is what Du Bois was likely experiencing in these exchanges — around American racial issues today.

            Du Bois captured a powerful part the African American experience in his description of this, kind of, shifting idea of what freedom looked like for them. He discusses how “the dream” of the enslaved people was emancipation – physical freedom – and how they believed that that freedom would solve all of their problems at the time. Then, when they found that physical freedom still did not set them free, they fought for their right to vote, thinking that having a political voice would give them the autonomy and power that they wanted. The focus then became “book-learning” and educating themselves so as to put themselves in a better position to elevate their status in America. The double-consciousness, that Du Bois notoriously described, is present at each level of this journey and everywhere in between. No matter what great rights they were gaining, it was impossible to forget that they were still black in America.

Du Bois describes this discouragement at one point, writing, “..away with the black man’s ballot, by favor or fraud – and behold the suicide of a race!” I found this quote to be very powerful, as it reveals the internal battle that African Americans fought every day to not be defeated and to exist comfortably and equally in America. I found myself connecting this journey to the lives of blacks in America today, and how even though they have all of these freedoms that they used to fight for, there are still the issues of mass incarceration and police violence. I feel that Du Bois’ writing was extremely powerful and has proven to remain relevant in today’s American society as well.  

In  the writing “Of Spiritual Strivings” by W.E.B. Du Bois, the author makes an effort to tell the reader “How does it feel to be the problem?” (Du Bois 1). Comments on that the people asking do not directly ask what/how it feels to be the problem, but they rather indirectly ask questions or state that they know other African Americans or that they fought in the war for the north. Du Bois states that the goal is to attain and merge his double self to make a better truer self for himself and the rest of America. He explains that “he would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world an Africa” but also he “would not bleach” his soul because he knows that his “blood has a message for the world” (Du Bois 4). What Du Bois is trying to say here is that he is not trying to come to America and make America more like Africa in culture and government, because America has things to show the world via democracy, freedom speech, press, religion, etc., capitalism, and many other things that were making America into a great young county. This also include the ideas of a multi-cultural country were anyone could move in and prosper and feel at home. To the second part of the quote/paragraph, Du Bois did not want to “bleach his soul” meaning he did not want to just forget where he came from, where his parents came from, and his past ancestral history all together while coming to America and trying to make his better truer self. And he examples this by saying the “blood has a message for the world” (Du Bois 4). What he means by this is his heritage and culture have a place in the modern day world, and it should not just be forgotten or thrown away, rather learned and melt into the other cultures that have melted together to form America. He doubled down on this idea by stating that he wishes “for man to be both a [African American] and an American” without hate or inequality (Du Bois 4). What this shows is that Du Bois is not asking to be anything different than the other immigrants that have traveled to America before him and became X Americans, and almost any country could be filled into that X, but rather get the same end opportunities to prosper and be successful. He carries on in the writing explaining upon how African Americans never intended and never wanted to be the problem when coming to America. Whether through slavery or decision to migrant from another country, the idea of African Americans being the “problem” was unfairly placed upon them. Towards the end of the passage, Du Bois continues these thoughts with him wanting to do this for “the land of their fathers’ father, and in the name of human opportunity” (Du Bois 14). This quote has two distinct parts and they both server as final wants for almost everyone that comes to America. The bearing of the name of the land that anyone’s fathers’ father carries one does not want to forget, that is who one is and where they came from, but in the end they all moved for one reason, and that is a better human opportunity to thriving and be the best possible self. Not to be discriminated and looked down upon. No one just leaves a place where they were from to be looked at as a lesser human, they moved here for a greater opportunity and being the best self-possible.

In “Of Our Spiritual Strivings”, W.E.B. DuBois explores the nature of racial discrimination and its multifaceted consequences. A remarkably eloquent author, DuBois’ meticulously crafted literary reflection discredits the irrational preconceptions of black Americans as being less educated or refined in a passionate yet collected essay. Never once does it lose its intensely authentic passion to its academic minutiae. This double nature of authenticity and eloquence is reflected in the writing of DuBois, in his musing upon the nature of his “double-consciousness”, bearing both the burden of his chosen personal identity and his given social one. This conflicting binary has plagued his efforts, and those of the African Community in America throughout the history of our country’s founding, confining them to a separate sphere of living and limiting their achievements to this separate reality. In order to progress then, DuBois contends that African-Americans must reconcile these two halves, to become fluid and free in their identities, to form cultural ties of their own choosing rather than being bound in the chains of pseudo-scientific racist propaganda:

“This, then, is the end of his striving: to be a co-worker in the kingdom of culture, to escape both death and isolation, to husband and use his best powers and his latent genius.”

However, it is important to note that DuBois goes on to elaborate upon this point, specifying that he does not wish to Americanize the African identity, Africanize the American identity, nor does he want to blend the two into a homogeneous cultural mixture. Rather, DuBois emphasizes that the goal of his spiritual strivings is to reach a point in which the two cultures can interact amicably and learn from one another, while simultaneously preserving their unique qualities and intrinsic values. In order to accomplish this, DuBois understands that the African-American community must attain equal rights: no half-measures will do. In order for the veil of segregation to be lifted, to meld the two spheres of white and black America together, the liberties experienced by the privileged must all be secured. To quote Ralph Ellison, a more contemporary African American whose writing describes many of the same struggles faced by DuBois, “Life is to be lived, not controlled. Humanity is won by continuing to play in the face of certain defeat.” This sentiment can be found in the very writings of DuBois, in fact, when he asks us the following:

“The bright ideals of the past,—physical freedom, political power, the training of brains and the training of hands,—all these in turn have waxed and waned, until even the last grows dim and overcast. Are they all wrong,—all false? No, not that, but each alone was over-simple and incomplete…”

By recognizing that the idealized pillars of our American democracy are of no use when fractured and separated, such is the case with its citizenry, DuBois concluded that the Africans were the true manifestations of the Declaration of Independence, and as such were confronted with the task of achieving the sacred rights of life, liberty, and the freedom to pursue happiness. And although great progress has been achieved through the sacrifices of many, the shadow of our country’s legacy still lingers, its silhouette visible even in the darkness. Yet DuBois and those like him endure. They overcome. They adapt. And while it may be unlikely that we ever achieve a utopian reality in which his Dream is fully realized, the we must foment discord, comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. If the moral arc of the universe is long, we must do our part to bend it ever closer towards justice. We must strive, both in spirit as well as in action.

The text gave an intimate perspective on DuBois take on what it means to be African American in America. DuBois begins the passage with his personal experience with feelings of hopelessness as a young boy. He recalls being just as, if not even more talented and hard working than his white peers. However, due to societal set backs for African Americans, “the worlds [he] longed for, and all their dazzling opportunities were theirs, not [his]”(paragraph 2). DuBois never wished to settle with this, and told himself he would find a way to overcome.

DuBois then describes a “double-consciousness” all African Americans have. He describes conflicting views of self from his American self and Black self. A Black man or women in America is forced into believing in two narratives of themselves, one of their African identity and one of their American identity. DuBois explains that African Americans don’t wish to eradicate either identity, but to blend them in harmony with one another, as he believes both sides have something of value to teach the other.

DuBois then begins to describe being an African American post civil war, and their struggle to attain true emancipation through a series of social changes.After the war, African Americans struggled to find a true sense due to self doubt, as the white population still held disdain for black culture, and only accepted their assimilation. This caused them to fall into stereotypes brought by ignorance.

The power of the ballot attained by the African American population felt like a symbol of their freedom and true sense of Americanism. This new found political power brought about the desire for better education.
DuBois describes the battle for better education as a rough and toiling task. He compares African Americans seeking education to mountain climbers. To the climbers, “the horizon was ever dark, the mists were often cold, and the Canaan was always dim and far away”(paragraph 10). However, the changed “the child of Emancipation to the youth with dawning self-consciousness, self realization, self respect”(paragraph 10). African Americans realized they need not conform, but to accept themselves as who they are to gain progress. The exceeding burden of prejudice forced self doubt as well.
DuBois ends the chapter by calling for an improvement in education for African Americans and describing the ideal America which allows the double consciousness of African Americans to blend into one true self. American culture and values will only become richer and deeper with an acceptance of African Americans.
This passage allowed me a momentary glance into a perspective I otherwise would not see on a daily basis in my own life. It was extremely eye opening in allowing me to see deep emotions and insecurities forced onto an entire race by institutionalized racism and neglect. African Americans have not only fought for their basic rights in this country, but for an ability to find their true selves, as described by DuBois. The idea of a double consciousness is one that I found particularly interesting in the passage. It perfectly reflected the conflicting ideas of self imposed on African Americans in the country.

“How does it feel to be a problem?” This is the first sentence that really stuck out to me from ‘Of Our Spiritual Strivings’ by W.E.B. Du Bois. How would it feel to be considered a problem, and nothing more, by your neighbors and peers? This question brought to me a lot of questions and inspired great reflection, despite being mentioned only briefly. I personally have not had an experience being viewed as a ‘problem’ just for existing. Although I have certainly been problematic, and have accidentally caused problems, I know that I am privileged in the fact that no one will make it about my skin color. As I try to imagine what it would feel like to be viewed in such a negative light, despite what I know about myself to be true, I feel suffocated. From only briefly putting myself in these shoes, I am already beginning to understand how some victims of prejudice and racism have significantly altered viewed about the world we live in and the inherent qualities of the people around them. Interestingly, while thinking about this and how I would feel, I seemed to accidentally group together the opinions of prejudiced privileged people with all privileged people, which is similar to how those with these prejudices view every member of the race or group they are prejudiced against. These generalizations and false views about certain groups that are held when viewing only from the outside in reminded me of the Kaplan article about identity. In this article she quotes Charles Taylor who said “a person or group of people can suffer real damage, real distortion, if the people around them mirror back to them a conflicting or demeaning or contemptible picture of themselves”. I feel that this quote related closely to many of the things that Du Bois was depicting. He mentions directly how he was an outlier, how not all boys in his situation were able to rise above it as he tried to do. Instead, they suffered the ‘real damage’ previously mentioned. He states, “With other black boys the strife was not so fiercely sunny: their youth shrunk into tasteless sycophancy, or into silent hatred of the pale world about them and mocking distrust of everything white”. Because of the skewed perceptions others had of them and battling dual identities, children who were supposed to be playing together and having innocent wide eyed views of the world lost their childhood to hate and discrimination they didn’t understand and couldn’t fight. Even in their attempts to catch up to the other children their age proved to be a tremendous struggle. Du Bois describes this when he says,“the dark pupils of these schools know how faithfully, how piteously, this people strove to learn. It was weary work.” This quote reminded me that just because the hardest part was over for African Americans at the time, even though they cleared the highest hurdle, the rest didn’t just disappear. The views of those who looked upon them with disdain did not disappear just because of a few words on a page. The technical part of the problem was solved, but the personal, emotional, and mental battles were just beginning. I am surprised how even today the after effects of slavery are still things that we deal with and hear about in the news and on social media.

I personally found this text very fascinating. The fact that this abstract was written more than one hundred years ago is obvious as it relates this time period’s attitude towards African Americans. Nevertheless, it would be ignorant to underestimate modern day racism. 

I moved to the United States one and a half years ago, so I certainly cannot understand how it feels to be an African American in this country in 2019, however I can easily relate to the question that Du Bois introduces in his first paragraph: “How does it feel to be a problem?”. Which can also be associated to the question of “How does it feel to be different?”. The answer is always the same: tough. Here is my point- tough to me doesn’t necessary mean bad. But, it does mean hard in a sense that when you are different, you must have extra strength to bring out, extra optimism to show off, and an extra light that you must shine no matter what. Yes again, it is tough. Many people can’t do it and limit themselves to thinking about the problem instead of finding a solution, but there is always a solution. It is never easy, but it’s always worth it. For my experience, the solution is to show there is no difference, to prove that you are not a problem, and ultimately to let people see and understand through your pride and self-esteem that you are no different from anybody else.

It is also interesting the way in which Du Bois pictures African Americans in the middle of his writing. He specifically says: “Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American World”. I feel this is one of the most powerful sentences that it found throughout the entire text. If we analyze the psychological impact that this condition had on him, we would certainly understand the pain and sadness that have driven his discussion since the beginning of the article. We must also connect it to the conclusion of the text, when he shows hope and pride mentioning the pure human spirit of the Declaration of Independence, the wild sweet music of the negro slaves and the fairy tales and folk-lore of Indian and African people. His thoughts become more inspirational and the idea of liberty and freedom takes over, giving the text a sense of hope that it is difficult to catch in the first three quarters of it.

It is appear that we can find a lot historical, philosophical, and psychological aspects in this text. I really love it, because I truly believe that those are the bases of our worldwide understanding. “Historia magistra vitae” (literally: History is our life teacher), used to say Cicerone to explain to Romans how important it is to analyze the past. Psychology: the most important subject to study in order to find solutions when interacting with people, and Philosophy: the meaning of life, those ideals of liberty, justice, and fairness that must drive us to act accordingly and find the peace that we are all looking for.

Reading “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” by W. E. B. Du Bois was enlightening in the fact that it allowed me to really see things from an African American’s perspective and understand what it means to live in America as a Black person. The whole idea of double-consciousness is something that I, thankfully, have not experienced in my life. However, I imagine the feeling of it to be somewhat crushing because a person has an inner self conflicting with what other people see them as, not only can this be disheartening but confusing. At one point, when Du Bois talks about wanting to end double-consciousness, he says, “he simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his face”. One of the key points that Du Bois makes is that he wants African Americans to be both “a Negro and an American” not one or the other, but the best of both. I definitely agree with Du Bois because I do not think that African Americans should completely assimilate to America and I also do not think that they should “Africanize America”. The key is to find the perfect mix of the two where double-consciousness no longer exists. The last part of the quote, “the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his face” is also a central idea. By identifying wholly with either Blacks or Americans, you involuntarily lose certain opportunities. If someone were to label themselves as American they would be completely disregarding any cultural ties they may have, subsequently labeling oneself as wholly African could create resentment and the loss of some of the things the United States has to offer.

            Near the end of the reading Du Bois writes, “through history, the powers of single black men flash here and there like falling stars, and die sometimes before the world has rightly gauged their brightness”. Throughout the history of the world there have not been many powerful black men, and the ones that do exist are few, far-between, and often short lived. This quote made me think about how most history texts that are read and studied are written by white men. There are thousands of years of history that have been written about, I do not think it is unreasonable to assume that there are many “powerful black men” (and women) that have been disregarded. I think that when powerful black men exist they are even further marginalized when history is written by a white person. I think this division between black and white men in power is also an example of the concept of the veil that Du Bois writes about. To me, the veil represents a line, or separation, between the two races. Ultimately, I found Du Bois’ ideas to be very unique and eye opening. They really forced me to view things from a different perspective.

“How does it feel to be a problem?” These eight simple words in the very first paragraph of our reading prompted almost immediate self-reflection on my part. In all honesty, I experienced several moments of similar astonishment while reading this piece by W.E.B. Du Bois, which I assign to both his powerful literary prose and careful analysis of the complexities surrounding what it means to be an African American throughout our nation’s history. He’s able to articulate his overall experience and distinct findings in ways that left me questioning several aspects of my own identity, one which is shared amongst the greater black community as a whole.

As previously mentioned, I was rather intrigued by the idea of society deeming a certain group of individuals as ‘problematic.’ In the following paragraph, Du Bois describes the instance he realized he was different from his peers and how that realization prompted him to take immediate action. He became obsessed with the idea of proving his worth, something that I can relate to as a young African American male growing up in a majority white community. He notes, “That sky was the bluest when I could beat my mates at examination-time, or beat them at a foot-race, or even beat their stringy heads. Alas, with the years all this fine contempt began to fade; for the worlds I longed for, all their dazzling opportunities, were theirs, not mine.” This is an interesting assessment made by the author, as it exemplifies a common idea spread throughout the black community; the idea that no matter what you achieve, the color of your skin will always play a vital role in your societal perception. Growing up, while my parents pushed me to be a proud, self-reliant individual, they simultaneously warned me to express myself with caution. They knew that despite the guise of equal opportunity, being born black in America would bring about challenges far beyond my control; something Du Bois captures beautifully in this section of his reading.

Coupled with the idea of being deemed a problem is the idea of double consciousness, or as Du Bois puts it, the sensation of having, “Two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” This very real eternal struggle feeds into the author’s notion that the history of black men can be summarized as a struggle to somehow merge our two conflicting personas. I find it interesting that Du Bois not only recognizes this as an issue, but stresses that an individual does not need to sabotage any aspect of one identity in order to attain inner peace within the other. This is an idea the author expands upon later on in the piece, when he definitively states that in order to find a sense of belonging in this world, we as a people must stay true to ourselves. African Americans have contributed so much to the ideals of this nation that we cannot afford to jeopardize any success made towards further unification between the various communities who inhabit this great land.