rm 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.*A href=#Footnote17B name=Footnote17A*Footnote17*/A* 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. *br* Du Bois in *I*Souls of Black Folk*/I* 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."*A href=#Footnote18B name=Footnote18A*Footnote18*/A* 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."*A href=#Footnote19B name=Footnote19A*Footnote19*/A* 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...
