The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois

3. The steady withdrawal of aid from institutions for the higher

101 words  |  Chapter 4

training of the Negro. These movements are not, to be sure, direct results of Mr. Washington’s teachings; but his propaganda has, without a shadow of doubt, helped their speedier accomplishment. The question then comes: Is it possible, and probable, that nine millions of men can make effective progress in economic lines if they are deprived of political rights, made a servile caste, and allowed only the most meagre chance for developing their exceptional men? If history and reason give any distinct answer to these questions, it is an emphatic _No_. And Mr. Washington thus faces the triple paradox of his career: