IX. Of the Sons of Master and Man

Summary

Du Bois briefly mentions the imperial expansion of Europe and the destructive effects it had on less developed groups of people across the globe. He states that in the future, humans should strive to support “the good, the beautiful and the true” and not “continue to put a premium on greed and impudence and cruelty.” 

Du Bois then suggests that the racial division in the South should be studied to better understand future clashes between races. He stresses several aspects of Southern society as parts of racial communication. First, he describes how physical segregation forces each race to regularly see the worst in one another. Second, he describes the exploitative economic system of the South. He contrasts it with the labor unions and commercial laws of the North and of Europe and points out that both white and Black laborers suffer due to it. Du Bois describes “political activity” as the third form of contact between the races and classes of the South. Unfortunately, due to post-war corruption, fraud, and force, Southern Black voters quickly became disenfranchised with politics, “with the idea that politics was a method of private gain by disreputable means.”

Du Bois explains further elements of government that discourage Black participation. Southern Black people had little control over the laws (as they were written), the enforcement of those laws, taxation, and even how tax funds would be spent. Du Bois admits “how sorely in need of such economic and spiritual guidance the emancipated Negro was,” but also points out that “representatives of the best white Southern public opinion” were not those in charge. He extends this point by stating that under such exploitative and abusive systems, there would inevitably be a rise in Black crime, which would then only confirm the racist expectations of the white South. Du Bois then explains that instead of focusing on education as a means to prevent crime, the response was instead greater punishment and an increasingly biased legal system. 

After outlining the ways that Black and white people were in contact with one another in the South, Du Bois says that “there is almost no community of intellectual life or point of transference where the thoughts and feelings of one race can come into direct contact and sympathy with the thoughts and feelings of the other.” Due to the lack of open communication, both sides remain antagonistic, the belief in stereotypes is reinforced, and progress is nearly impossible. For a successful future, he offers that both sides need to “see and appreciate and sympathize with each other’s position…”

Analysis

Touching on the physical segregation of white and Black people in the South, Du Bois brings up differences in background between the races that contribute to their places in the post-war hierarchy. Black slaves had close contact with whites by working in their houses and looking after their families, but white families did not have this kind of contact with Black families. After Emancipation, Black people were not prepared to serve as leaders in their communities because they had been trained as slaves. Du Bois feels that Black people will need their own leaders to make strides toward living successfully in the new world.

Du Bois observes that Black people do not make gains at a steady pace moving forward, and the fact that their achievements are interspersed with setbacks means that the cycles of poverty and crime will not be quickly or easily broken. It is a relatively modern notion that people who have no voice in making laws will have a hard time complying with them, and history shows that those in power expected slaves and other downtrodden people to obey without question. Du Bois believes that expecting people to obey a justice system they did not create is outmoded and unfair. In addition, because laws are not equal, Black people receive more blame and punishment, which leads to further frustration and more crime. In Du Bois’s eyes, the Black man has no chance unless both sides observe, appreciate, and sympathize with each other’s positions.