In The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. DuBois describes how a black person is always feeling two things: an American, a Negro, two thoughts, and two ideals inside of one body. He describes how the history of the American Negro is the history of this strife or this longing to be a self-conscious man. To merge his two selves into one complete truer whole self. But not to lose the old selves in the merging process. He doesn't want to change anything physically about himself to have to be any different, he just simply wants to be treated with dignity and respect, that he believes he wholeheartedly deserves, just the same as any other man. And with nobody in his path that is going to try to stop him. 2. Du Bois had a very different plan for the struggle for black equality than other people of his time period. He wanted blacks to work to become an active part of American society. He was definitely a more radical thinker, and advocated a more aggressive stance on the part of blacks to achieve rights, through legal processes and demonstrations. His efforts helped form the NAACP. He was a big help in the advancement of the freedmen. He felt that blacks needed political power to protect what they had worked for. And, ultimately, he believed that the greatest enemy of blacks in America was not necessarily whites, but the ignorance of whites concerning the accomplishments and capabilities of the black race. He wanted to encourage and develop the black youth population because they should be taught to be leaders in the black community, and with that, the Negro race could be saved by its exceptional men. ...
