The Souls of Black Folk Chapter VIII Summary & Analysis

VIII. Of the Quest of the Golden Fleece

Summary

Du Bois starts with another mythological reference. He compares the fields of ripe cotton, gold against the Black earth, to the golden fleece that Jason and the Argonauts set out to find. He states that the cotton industry has doubled since the Civil War, and despite many whites owning and working in the cotton industry, he claims that Black people are chief figures in the industry and the field hands are “worth studying.” He says that the “keynote of the Black Belt is debt.” He claims that it is the heritage of the “wasteful economies” of slavery, but also that it was emphasized by the emancipation of the slaves.

Du Bois again references Dougherty County. He states that the homes are overcrowded, even more so than in large cities, like New York. He also discusses how slavery has impacted the marriage culture of Southern Black people. In the times of slavery, slaves that were married would often be separated and sold or moved to other plantations, thus the slaves would often remarry eventually, if possible. After Emancipation, Du Bois points out that while many Southern Black families regard marriage with the same traditional sense as Southern whites, it is not uncommon to find broken families where the couples decided to separate.

Du Bois next discusses how slave labor was replaced by a town merchant. Poor farmers get loans against their future crops to buy tools and food, but with the nature of the contracts and the decreasing value of their crops, the farmers are always behind and in debt. The merchants that offer the loans and supplies generate large amounts of wealth, but the farmers stay in debt and ignorant. Du Bois says that migration to the Black Belt was initially a huddling for mutual defense, but later, there was a migration back to towns as an attempt at greater opportunity. In Dougherty County, he points out that the high price of rent on land prevents most Black farmers from ever purchasing property.

Analysis

Du Bois uses the mythological tale of the golden fleece as a metaphor for the cotton industry in the South. Whoever has the golden fleece, both in mythology and in the South, is king. The economy of the post-Civil War South took a downturn as cotton prices fell, making it almost impossible for Black farmers to succeed. While Black people could technically now purchase and own land, the reality of debt servitude and institutional racism make land ownership a difficult, if hopeless, aspiration.

Slavery disrupted the institution of marriage for Black people, and after Emancipation, poverty and debt made it difficult to keep family units together. In addition, the emotional wounds from slavery kept them from feeling optimistic about their families’ futures. Du Bois emphasizes to his white audience that Black people do not lack innate qualities that others possess; they simply have neither the experience nor the education to thrive as equals with white people. African Americans in a post-slavery world did not have a history of family stability or economic and financial support to keep their families together after Emancipation. Du Bois appeals to the white reader’s feeling of pathos by explaining that Black people have the same sense of pride and honor as they do. In contrast to white families at the time, women and children in Black families were forced to work, so stereotypical gender roles were vastly different in the two communities.

Du Bois maintains that the cycle of enforced ignorance brought about by racism only serves to keep Black people in their marginalized place. Throughout the book, he argues that racism paints Black people as unintelligent and lazy, a stereotype that reinforces poverty and criminal activity. Du Bois endeavors to get white people to understand the limited options available to Black people because of racism. By placing a spotlight on this cycle, he seeks to create empathy and a more favorable impression of the Black community. This understanding would, in turn, allow for change to bring about a more egalitarian society, thus ending the cycle and uplifting a marginalized race of people.

Previous section Chapter VII Next section Chapter IX