In The Souls of Black Folk the sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois introduced the concept of the "veil," a separation of the inner lives of black Americans from their white counterparts. Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil is a collection of essays, poems, and short fiction that attempts to provide a nuanced look behind the veil at the lives of black Americans and to give voice to their often neglected concerns.Written in the aftermath of the First World War, seventeen years after The Souls of Black Folk and during a time when racial tension had been codified into the infamous Jim Crow laws, Du Bois touches on a wide range of topics, from the philosophical to the concrete. His over-arching message is a desire for equality. He argues strongly against colonialism, excessive materialism, and Jim Crow, and discusses how only proper education and universal suffrage can provide the foundation for a more fair society.Perfect for readers passionate about civil rights history and powerful social commentary, this masterwork offers an unflinching yet eloquent examination of race in America that remains strikingly relevant today. Du Bois's brilliant blend of scholarly insight, poetic language, and raw emotional truth makes this essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the African American experience.The source for this public-domain ebook is Standard Ebooks (standardebooks.org). Ebooks from other sources often have typos, inconsistent spelling, missing accent marks, and missing punctuation. Ebooks from Standard Ebooks are proofread line by line against a scan of the original printed pages, then proofread again from cover to cover. They are also formatted and typeset following a professional-grade style manual, resulting in new editions supporting state-of-the-art ereader technology: automatic hyphenation, popup footnotes, complete and consistent metadata, high-resolution and scalable vector graphics, and ereader-compatible tables of contents. All of this makes the finished ebooks accurate, functional, and beautiful, a pleasure to read. (Waking Lion Press is not affiliated with or endorsed by Standard Ebooks.)
