The Souls of Black Folk: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

The chapter begins with a poem by the abolitionist poet John Greenleaf Whittier, which includes the lines: “All are rising— / the black and white together.” Du Bois describes the city of Atlanta, lying “gray and still on the crimson soil of Georgia.” He invokes the haunting legacy of slavery and the Civil War, yet claims that the people of Atlanta are “turned resolutely toward the future.” Du Bois argues that “a fearful wilderness” surrounded Atlanta after the war, a wilderness caused by the combination of poverty, serfdom, crime and punishment, and most of all, “the Veil of Race.”

Du Bois argues that hard work and prosperity are the correct path to a better future for Atlanta (and indeed for all the South). However, there is a danger of mistaking money as the end goal, rather than simply the means of securing a better future. Du Bois perceives that at the time he is writing, many Southerners are falling victim to an obsession with money. Furthermore, wealth is seen as the goal of politics and solution to every social problem. Du Bois expresses concern that this obsession is spreading to the black community. The older leaders of the African American community are making way for the younger generation, who tend to be affluent property owners.

Du Bois draws a parallel between the “death” of two figures: the honest, deferential slave, and the “Southern gentleman.” He argues that the obsession with money is behind the disappearance of both. Black people’s prizing of faith and knowledge is in danger of being overtaken by a fixation with wealth.

Du Bois describes a cluster of beautiful, stately buildings: Atlanta University. This is where he lives, and where students study the classics and learn “old time-glorified methods of delving for Truth.” Du Bois argues that at no university, not even Oxford or Yale, do students strive so passionately as they do at Atlanta University. He describes the students learning of a “future fuller than the past.” He argues that the founders of Atlanta and other black universities “made their mistakes,” but that the decision to found universities was undoubtedly correct, as this is the best way of laying the foundation for a better future.

Du Bois argues that the biggest mistake made by the founders of Atlanta University was thinking that progress would come quickly. They also made the error of “forgetting” about the distribution of talent, which means that not every young person will succeed at university; “to make the blacksmith a scholar is almost as silly as… making the scholar a blacksmith.” Du Bois also argues that the purpose of universities is not just to train students for professional life, but also to be an “organ of adjustment” that helps society exist in a harmonious, civil way.

Du Bois claims that the South is especially in need of universities at the moment, as the culture of balanced, critical thought was ruined by slavery. He argues that support for the development of black universities should run parallel to support for white Southern universities. According to Du Bois, universities teach “Patience, Humility, Manners, and Taste.” He repeats the sentiment that laborers should be taught trades and technical skills, whereas “thinkers” should be taught to “think.” At the same time, universities do not operate in a vacuum, and their value is not simply instrumental; rather, they have a crucial role within society of promoting righteousness and truth.