tHe SoULs of bLAck foLKs

As we come to the conclusion of this work there is a recurrence of the veil. Every chapter I have read the veil is always mentioned. Du Bois also makes references to the experience of "double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others." This is the concept of dual identity in which throughout the text it is important for Du Bois's goal in making the African-American condition understood. Du Bois contends that African Americans experience a split in self-concept because they are regarded with "contempt and pity" by the majority of their fellow Americans. This ties into the Veil as it is one of the sybols used to help get the condition of black folks understood by American whites. “The veil is hung between us and opportunity” As both black and American, black people are organized into public and private identities, neither regarded as whole by mainstream, white America. He talks about how every African American belongs or goes to a church in some way. It is part of their identity and what it means to be an African American.

Souls of Black Folks

W.E.B. Dubois narrates "The Souls of Black Folks" consistently repeats the symbol of the veil throughout this collection of essays. I believe that this veil is representative of racism and what it means to be black. "shut out from their world by a vast veil. I had thereafter no desire to tear down that veil, to creep through; I held all beyond it in common contempt, and lived above it in a region of blue sky and great wandering shadows" I think that the veil is racism and being black. He can not take off this veil either physically, this is before the time of Michael Jackson, or symbolically, since this is deep in the south during the antebellum period where blacks were still regarded as laves.
Dubois then details all of the problems that the African Americans face. He talks about the KKKlan and other sources of oppression. He later talks about B.T.Washington, who we just read "Up From Slavery". He describes him as "The most striking thing in history of the American Negro".