Discussion Starter - Double Consciousness and the Veil

In The Souls of Black Folk, Dubois reflects on what it means to be black in America during the 20th century. His book is considered one of the most important sociological works regarding the race and the struggle for equality in America. In the first chapter of his work, Dubois makes an effort to describe all of the nuances that came along during the socialization process for African Americans post emancipation. He acknowledges that while (some) progress is being made in terms of equality, there hasn’t been an ideological shift in the greater American community to match this progress. Dubois is particularly known  for coining the following two terms: ‘double consciousness’ and ‘the veil’ which he uses in order to describe the black experience in America. To fully understand Dubois, I feel that it is important to start by having definitions of these terms since they are paramount to understanding his line of reasoning.

When Dubois uses the image of the veil, he is using a metaphor to express the physical and psychological differences between the black and white communities. The veil can also be thought as the metaphorical reason that the perception of the black community is so different from what it actually is ( Ch. 1).  

The concept of double-consciousness refers to the idea of having a double identity- specifically referring to the separate American consciousness as well as a black consciousness and the inability to reconcile the two. This double consciousness impedes the Black community from self actualization- it “yields him no true self consciousness, but only les him see himself through the revelation of the other world” (11). A big component of this idea is the internalization of the stereotypes that you believe others apply to you and the acceptance of these prejudices. We see the internalization of these prejudices arise again and again in Dubois’ later essays. In “Of the Training of Black Men,” Dubois describes the three main ‘streams’ of thinking regarding the socialization of black people into American society post emancipation. These three ways of thinking are:  1. We must rely on worldwide cooperation and unity  in order to achieve the aspirations of the black community; 2. The belief that that the black community was created as an ‘other’ - somewhere between man and cattle; and 3.The belief that the black community is, in fact, lesser than the white community. The dangerous internalization of these prejudices is evidenced by the last two lines of thought. He then lays out the following dilemma:

“So here we stand among thoughts of human unity, even through conquest and slavery; the inferiority of black men, even if forced by fraud; a shriek in the night for the freedom of men who themselves are not yet sure of their right to demand it. This is the tangle of thought and afterthought wherein we are called to solve the problem of training men for life” (63).

Other than education, what does Dubois propose in order to solve this dilemma? How does he suggest to eradicate the last two lines of thought previously described?