Essay about The Souls of Black Folk

Submitted By crbmarshall23
Words: 377
Pages: 2

The Souls of Black Folk

This was a great excerpt from DuBois. I’m quite sure this story was very emotional to the readers as it was to me. I enjoyed the section in “The Souls of Black Folk” when his first born passed away. He described the birth and death of his first son. He starts off describing what it was like for him as a new dad and the day his son was born. I could picture him holding his child and the different thoughts running through his head as he held him for the first time. That had to be an overwhelming feeling for him, which exemplified the bond of a Black man and his baby boy. He talks about the mother as well, how her response to the child showed a great love for the baby, which made DuBois love the child so much more.
"Within the Veil was he born, said I; and there within shall he live, a Negro and a Negro's son. What he wanted for the baby was different than what the baby was actually going to be apart of. The veil characterized the concealed disparity of slavery. He said that the divine conception of childbirth was much too sacred for a child to be born into oppression (slavery). I can’t imagine what it was like for the mother and DuBois to watch their baby breathe his last breath. He went on to described the funeral day and what affect it took on his wife especially. DuBois described this moment as heartbreaking. It is clear he has mixed feelings about the child being born into a generation of disparity. Subsequent to the baby death, DuBois