he story of Alexander Crummell a black man who for, "fourscore years had he wondered in this same world of mine, within the Veil." 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 movearound 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." 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." 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 The 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. 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 The 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 pre...
