The Souls of Black Folk W. E. B. Du Bois (nonfiction book recommendations .txt) đ
- Author: W. E. B. Du Bois
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A voice and vision called him to be a priestâ âa seer to lead the uncalled out of the house of bondage. He saw the headless host turn toward him like the whirling of mad watersâ âhe stretched forth his hands eagerly, and then, even as he stretched them, suddenly there swept across the vision the temptation of Despair.
They were not wicked menâ âthe problem of life is not the problem of the wickedâ âthey were calm, good men, Bishops of the Apostolic Church of God, and strove toward righteousness. They said slowly, âIt is all very naturalâ âit is even commendable; but the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church cannot admit a Negro.â And when that thin, half-grotesque figure still haunted their doors, they put their hands kindly, half sorrowfully, on his shoulders, and said, âNowâ âof course, weâ âwe know how you feel about it; but you see it is impossibleâ âthat isâ âwellâ âit is premature. Sometime, we trustâ âsincerely trustâ âall such distinctions will fade away; but now the world is as it is.â
This was the temptation of Despair; and the young man fought it doggedly. Like some grave shadow he flitted by those halls, pleading, arguing, half angrily demanding admittance, until there came the final No; until men hustled the disturber away, marked him as foolish, unreasonable, and injudicious, a vain rebel against Godâs law. And then from that Vision Splendid all the glory faded slowly away, and left an earth gray and stern rolling on beneath a dark despair. Even the kind hands that stretched themselves toward him from out the depths of that dull morning seemed but parts of the purple shadows. He saw them coldly, and asked, âWhy should I strive by special grace when the way of the world is closed to me?â All gently yet, the hands urged him onâ âthe hands of young John Jay, that daring fatherâs daring son; the hands of the good folk of Boston, that free city. And yet, with a way to the priesthood of the Church open at last before him, the cloud lingered there; and even when in old St. Paulâs the venerable Bishop raised his white arms above the Negro deaconâ âeven then the burden had not lifted from that heart, for there had passed a glory from the earth.
And yet the fire through which Alexander Crummell went did not burn in vain. Slowly and more soberly he took up again his plan of life. More critically he studied the situation. Deep down below the slavery and servitude of the Negro people he saw their fatal weaknesses, which long years of mistreatment had emphasized. The dearth of strong moral character, of unbending righteousness, he felt, was their great shortcoming, and here he would begin. He would gather the best of his people into some little Episcopal chapel and there lead, teach, and inspire them, till the leaven spread, till the children grew, till the world hearkened, tillâ âtillâ âand then across his dream gleamed some faint afterglow of that first fair vision of youthâ âonly an afterglow, for there had passed a glory from the earth.
One dayâ âit was in 1842, and the springtide was struggling merrily with the May winds of New Englandâ âhe stood at last in his own chapel in Providence, a priest of the Church. The days sped by, and the dark young clergyman labored; he wrote his sermons carefully; he intoned his prayers with a soft, earnest voice; he haunted the streets and accosted the wayfarers; he visited the sick, and knelt beside the dying. He worked and toiled, week by week, day by day, month by month. And yet month by month the congregation dwindled, week by week the hollow walls echoed more sharply, day by day the calls came fewer and fewer, and day by day the third temptation sat clearer and still more clearly within the Veil; a temptation, as it were, bland and smiling, with just a shade of mockery in its smooth tones. First it came casually, in the cadence of a voice: âOh, colored folks? Yes.â Or perhaps more definitely: âWhat do you expect?â In voice and gesture lay the doubtâ âthe temptation of Doubt. How he hated it, and stormed at it furiously! âOf course they are capable,â he cried; âof course they can learn and strive and achieveâ ââ and âOf course,â added the temptation softly, âthey do nothing of the sort.â Of all the three temptations, this one struck the deepest. Hate? He had outgrown so childish a thing. Despair? He had steeled his right arm against it, and fought it with the vigor of determination. But to doubt the worth of his lifeworkâ âto doubt the destiny and capability of the race his soul loved because it was his; to find listless squalor instead of eager endeavor; to hear his own lips whispering, âThey do not care; they cannot know; they are dumb driven cattleâ âwhy cast your pearls before swine?ââ âthis, this seemed more than man could bear; and he closed the door, and sank upon the steps of the chancel, and cast his robe upon the floor and writhed.
The evening sunbeams had set the dust to dancing in the gloomy chapel when he arose. He folded his vestments, put away the hymnbooks, and closed the great Bible. He stepped out into the twilight, looked
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