ith 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 race.Du Bois in The 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." 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." 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." 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." Here Du Bois is living above the veil but in the following Chapter he once again travels behind the veil to tell t...
