The Different Conceptions of the Veil in The Souls of Black Folk
W.E.B. Du Bois's Souls
of Black Folk, a collection of autobiographical and
historical essays contains many themes. There is the theme of
souls and their attainment of consciousness, the theme of double
consciousness and the duality and bifurcation of black life and
culture; but one of the most striking themes is that of "the
veil." The veil provides a link between the 14 seemingly
unconnected essays that make up The Souls of Black Folk.
Mentioned at least once in most of the 14 essays it means that,
"the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and
gifted with second sight in this American world, -a world with
yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see
himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a
peculiar sensation, this double consciousness, this sense of
always looking at one's self through the eyes of others."Footnote1 The veil is a
metaphor for the separation and invisibility of black life and
existence in America and is a reoccurring theme in books about
black life in America.
Du Bois's veil metaphor,
"In those somber forests of his striving his own soul rose
before him, and he saw himself, -darkly as though through a
veil"Footnote2, is a allusion to Saint Paul's line in Isiah 25:7,
"For now we see through a glass, darkly."Footnote3 Saint Paul's use
of the veil in Isiah and later in Second Corinthians is similar
to Du Bois's use of the metaphor of the veil. Both writers claim
that as long as one is wrapped in the veil their attempts to gain
self-consciousness will fail because they will always see the
image of themselves reflect back to them by others. Du Bois
applies this by claiming that as long as on is behind the veil
the, "world which yields him no self-consciousness but who
only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other
world."Footnote4 Saint Paul in
Second Corinthians says the way to self consciousness and an
understanding lies in, "the veil being taken away, Now the
lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the lord is there is
liberty." Du Bois does not claim that transcending the veil
will lead to a better understanding of the lord but like Saint
Paul he finds that only through transcending "the veil"
can people achieve liberty and gain self-consciousness.
The veil metaphor in Souls
of Black Folk is symbolic of the invisibility of blacks in
America. Du Bois says that Blacks in America are a forgotten
people, "after the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman,
the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son,
born with a veil."Footnote5 The invisibility
of Black existence in America is one of the reasons why Du Bois
writes Souls of Black Folk in order to elucidate the
"invisible" history and strivings of Black Americans,
"I have sought here to sketch, in vague, uncertain outline,
the spiritual world in which ten thousand Americans live and
strive."Footnote6 Du Bois in each
of the following chapters tries to manifest the strivings of
Black existence from that of the reconstruction period to the
black spirituals and the stories of rural black children that he
tried to educate. Du Bois in Souls of Black Folk is
grappling with trying to establish some sense of history and
memory for Black Americans, Du Bois struggles in the pages of the
book to prevent Black Americans from becoming a Seventh Son
invisible to the rest of the world, hidden behind a veil of
prejudice, "Hear my Cry, O God the reader vouch safe that
this my book fall not still born into the world-wilderness. Let
there spring, Gentle one, from its leaves vigor of thought and
thoughtful deed to reap the harvest wonderful."Footnote7
The invisibility of Black
existence is a recurring theme in other books about Black
history. In Raboteau's book slave religion is called, "the
invisible institution of the antebellum South."Footnote8 Raboteau tries
to uncover and bring to light the religious practices of Black
slaves, he tried to bring their history out of the veil. Rabatoeu
writes how religion for slaves was a way in which, "slaves
maintained their identity as persons despite a system bent on
reducing them to a subhuman level... In the midst of slavery
religion was for the enslaved a space of meaning, freedom, and
transcendence."Footnote9 Because slave
religion was an invisible institution hidden by a veil from white
slave masters it provided a way in which slaves could resist
social death. The history of Black women is also the history of a
people made invisible; hidden behind the veil. Bell Hooks in her
study of Black women and feminism tries to bring to light the
forgotten past of black women who have also been hidden behind a
veil, " Traditionally, scholars have emphasized the impact
of slavery on the black male consciousness, arguing that black
men more so than black women were the real victims of
slavery."Footnote10 To Bell Hooks the veil which makes black women
invisible to white society is made from an inseparable cloth
woven from the threads of racism and sexism. The Black
reconstruction period is another area in which scholars have
grappled with the consequences of the veil which has hidden the
history of black striving and struggle from view. Eric Foner's
book on the reconstruction was the first major study of the
period since Du Bois's book on the period fifty years earlier.Footnote11 The reconstruction which Foner terms America's
unfinished revolution could also be called American invisible
revolution due to the lack of scholarship on the area.
The most striking examples
of the theme of the veil and invisibility is in literature about
Blacks struggling with their identity and with oppression. In Beloved
Setha's rational for killing her child can not be understood by
the white police system which sentence her to prison. In Ralph
Ellison's Invisible Man the main character says, "I
am an invisible man, No I am not a spook like those that haunted
Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood movie
ectoplasm's. I am a man of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids- and
I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible understand
because people refuse to see me."Footnote12 Ralph Ellison's invisible man like the history of black
women, slavery, reconstruction, and many other elements of black
life are hidden behind "the veil" making them invisible
to much of society.
The veil is also a
metaphor for the separation both physically and psychologically
of blacks and whites America. Physically the veil separates
blacks and whites through Slavery, Jim Crow laws, economic
inequality, and the voluntary segregation that followed the end
of the civil war. The veil acts as a physical barrier that
permanently brands black Americans as an "other"; the
veil is the metaphorical manifestation of the train tracks that
divide the black and white parts of town. Du Bois in Chapter two
lays out the creation of the veil from the end of the civil war
to the failure of reconstruction. The following chapters then
tell of those who have acted to strengthen the veil such as
Booker T. Washington or who suffered behind the veil such as the
school children Du Bois taught.
The veil also acts as a
psychological barrier separating blacks from whites. The theme of
the psychological separation of blacks and whites is a central
metaphor of the book starting with the first lines where Du Bois
recalls his encounters with whites who view him not as a person
but as a problem, "They half approach me in a half-hesitant
sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then
instead of saying directly how does it feel to be a problem? They
say, I know an Excellent colored man in my town."Footnote13 The veil in this case hides the humanity of blacks
which has important implications to the types of relations that
developed between blacks and whites. With their humanity hidden
behind "the veil" black and white relations at the time
of the writing of the Souls of Black Folk were marked by
violence: draft riots in New York during the Civil War, riots
following the reconstruction period, the lynching of Blacks, and
the formation of the Klu Klux Klan.Footnote14
The theme of separation
caused by the veil is repeated in many other black texts. In
Raboteau's book slave religious practices were separate from
white religious practices.Footnote15 Although many time slaves and their masters worshipped
together religion during the slavery period provided to very
separate things for master and slaves. For the master religion
was a way to justify slaveryFootnote16 and for slaves religion became a form of resistance and
hope; a way to resist social death. In Eric Foner's book on
reconstruction a veil separated black and white interpretations
of reconstruction.Footnote17 For blacks reconstruction was a time of hope and
freedom; for whites reconstruction was a time in which the north
repressed a defeated region, with ignorant former slaves, who
unable to act constructively for themselves were pawns of the
northern intruders. The veil, a metaphor for separation both
physically and psychologically hides the humanity of blacks, and
created deep divisions between the races.
Du Bois in Souls of
Black Folk unlike other blacks is able to move around the
veil, operate behind it, lift it, and even transcend it. In the
forethought Du Bois tells the reader that in the following
chapters he has, "Stepped with in the veil, raising it that
you may view faintly its deeper recesses, -the meaning of its
religion, the passion of its human sorrow, and the struggle of
its greater souls."Footnote18 Du Bois in the first Chapter steps outside the veil to
reveal the origin and his awareness of the veil. And it is Du
Bois's awareness of the veil that allows him to step outside of
it and reveal the history of the Negro, "his two-ness, -an
American, a Negro, two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled
strivings, two warring ideals in one dark body."Footnote19 Now that he has lifted the veil in the following
chapters Du Bois shows his white audience the history of the
Black man following reconstruction, the origins of the black
church. Du Bois then talks about the conditions of individuals
living behind the veil from his first born son who, "With in
the veil was he born, said I; and there with in shall he live, -a
Negro and a Negro's son.... I saw the shadow of the veil as it
passed over my baby, I saw the cold city towering above the blood
read land."Footnote20 In this passage Du Bois is both with in and above the
veil. He is a Negro living like his baby within the veil but he
is also above the veil, able to see it pass over his child. After
Du Bois's child dies he prays that it will, "sleep till I
sleep, and waken to a baby voice and the ceaseless patter of
little feet-above the veil."Footnote21 Here Du Bois is living above the veil but in the
following Chapter he once again travels behind the veil to tell
the story of Alexander Crummell a black man who for,
"fourscore years had he wondered in this same world of mine,
within the Veil."Footnote22 Du Bois then in the last Chapter "Sorrow
Songs" travels back into the veil from which he came, to
return to the spiritual. Du Bois's ability to move around the
veil could create some confusion as to whether the writer is
black. For this reason Du Bois says in his introduction says
that, "I who speak here am bone of the bone and flesh of the
flesh of them that live within the veil."Footnote23 Du Bois's ability to move in and out of the veil gives
him the ability to expose to whites that which is obscured from
their view. It also lends Du Bois authority when speaking about
his subject matter for he alone in the book is able to operate on
both sides of the veil.
In the Chapter on
"Sorrow Songs" Du Bois implores the reader to rise
above the veil, "In his good time America shall rend the
veil and the prisoner shall go free."Footnote24 Du Bois likens the veil to a prison that traps Blacks
from achieving progress and freedom. According to Du Bois the
veil causes Blacks to accept the false images that whites see of
Blacks. Du Bois although not explicitly in Souls of Black Folk
critique's Booker T. Washington for accepting the veil and
accepting white's ideas of Blacks. Booker T. Washington an
accomidationist accepts the white idea that blacks are problem
people; not a people with a problem caused by white racism.Footnote25 Booker T. Washington seeks to work behind the veil by
pursuing polices of accommodation. Du Bois in contrast wants
blacks to transcend the veil by politically agitating and
educating themselves.
Du Bois's conception of
the veil contradicts some of the other theme's in Souls of
Black Folk. First, how can the problem of the twentieth
century be that of the color-line when blacks are invisible
behind a veil of prejudice? Second, how can Du Bois speak from
behind the veil as he does in parts of certain chapters and yet
present a resemble critique of society? Third, how can the veil
both make blacks invisible and separate them at the same time and
make the separations so apparent to society. Fourth, how can Du
Bois say blacks are gifted with "second sight" when Du
Bois says blacks are looking at their past and present through a
veil? And Fifth, Du Bois's prescription for lifting the veil,
education and political activism, are only small steps to lifting
the stifling iron veil that keeps blacks invisible and separated
from white America. Du Bois's metaphor has limitations and
internal contradictions; but these internal contradictions are
minor compared to the power that "the veil" has as a
symbol of black existence in America.
The veil in Souls of
Black Folk is a metaphor that connotes the invisibility of
black America, the separation between whites and blacks, and the
obstacles that blacks face in gaining self-consciousness in a
racist society. The veil is also a metaphor that reoccurs in
other novels about black strivings. The veil is not a two
dimensional cloth to Du Bois but instead it is a three
dimensional prison that prevent blacks from seeing themselves as
they are but instead makes them see the negative stereotypes that
whites have of them.Footnote26 The veil is also to Du Bois both a blind fold and a
noose on the existence of "ten thousand thousand"
Americans who live and strive invisible and separated from their
white brothers and sisters. Du Bois wrote Souls of Black Folks
to lift the veil and show the pain and sorrow of a striving
people. Like Saint Paul's letter to the Corinthians Du Bois's
"letter" to the American people urges people not to
live behind the veil but to live above it.
W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (New York: Bantam Company, 1989) 3.
Ibid., 6.
Arnold Rampersad, Slavery and the literary imagination: Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1989) 104-125. Rampersad in his book says that Du Bois's metaphor of the veil is an allusion to Saint Paul's letter to the Corinthians.
W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (New York: Bantam Company, 1989) 3.
Ibid., 3.
Ibid., xxxi.
Ibid., 189.
Albert Rabatoteau, Slave Religion: The invisible institution "in the Antebellum South" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980) 212-318.
Ibid., 318.
Bell Hooks, Ain't I a Women: black women and feminism (Boston: South End Press, 1981) 20.
Eric Foner, Reconstruction America's Unfinished Revolution (New York: Harper & Row Company, 1989) xix-xxvii.
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (New York: Random House Publishing, 1990) 3.
W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (New York: Bantam Company, 1989) 1.
Eric Foner, Reconstruction America's Unfinished Revolution (New York: Harper & Row Company, 1989) 119.
Albert Rabatoteau, Slave Religion: The invisible institution "in the Antebellum South" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980) 294-300. According to Rabatoteau slaves stressed the stores of Exodus and the Sermon on Mount thus providing them with hope in the darkness of slavery.
Slave owners out special emphasis on sections of the Bible which justified slavery, such as the Hamitic Hypothesis, the Apostle Paul's letter to Phileon a slave owner, and the Hebrew Slaves.
Eric Foner, Reconstruction America's Unfinished Revolution (New York: Harper & Row Company, 1989) xxi-xxiv..
W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (New York: Bantam Company, 1989) xxxi.
Ibid., 3.
Ibid., 147.
Ibid., 151.
Ibid., 153.
Ibid., xxxii.
Ibid., 187.
August Meier, Negro thought in America 1880-1915 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1966) 230-232.
Paula Giddings, When and Where I Enter (New York: Quill William Morrow, 1984) 184. Paula Giddings points out how black women were stereotyped into three categories, the sexless suffering Aunt Jamima, the seductive temptress Jezebel, and the evil manipulative Sapphire. These are just some of the negative stereotypes of Blacks that formed on the white side of the veil.