W. E. B. Du Bois invites the reader gently into From The Souls of Black Folk. "I pray you, then, receive my little book in all charity, studying my words with me, forgiving mistake and foible for sake of the faith and passion that is in me." It's an endearing welcome to compiled words that begin laced with humility. It stirs the soul and persuades a reader to think with their mind and heart unlocked.

Du Bois includes a singular metaphor that is repeated through the piece. He refers to "the Veil." He wrote of being a student with brown skin and the rejection of a white girl, in grade school. "It dawned on me with a certain suddenness, that I was...shut out from their world by a vast veil."

What a haunting example of the way we view others through some type of invisible separation that doesn't really exist, but is there, nonetheless. It's an imaginary barrier formed by prejudice and perceptions that form through experience and society. But, it's so sly and filtered, only the most discerning can see it.

This idea stemmed from an event that happened when he was a young boy. "The veil" was starting to form. The idea makes too much sense to me. I see children that are born without it. They don't know separation and difference; they come with acceptance. I'd love to be like a child and be best friends with everyone I meet. They don't have the oppression, yet, that we, often unknowingly, instill in them and let creep into our own selves. It's such a twisted truth we fight against.

The gentle tone of Du Bois work changes to reveal the injustice. But, the balance is ideal. Bold statements, logical opinions, and heart wrenching song are mixed with the facts. He uses history and truth to back his motives. Speaking of black men he said,"To be a poor man is hard, to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships. He felt the weight of his ignorance."
It's just too much to grasp.

He goes on further to relate "true American song" to the music of the Negro Slave, and "American fairy tales and folklore" to India and Africa. We all live in this collective nation rich with history, great intentions, and some absolutely horrific decisions.

Du Bois concludes his third chapter with the powerful words of the founding fathers proclaiming "equality, liberty, and happiness." He gives Americans the truths and ideals that were not upheld. He was correct in saying, "The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land." I think it's significant to consider that in a mixed quest that had so much to do with an initial pursuit freedom and liberty, too many found bondage of the soul in becoming the physical master of another human being. How could there ever be freedom in that?