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Du Bois begins his argument by declaring: “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line,” and he repeats this statement several times throughout the book. The color line refers to the divide between races, often invisible but sometimes physical. The line is inherently hierarchical, ensuring that white people receive better treatment, services, and opportunities, while black people receive the inferior version—or nothing at all. The color line was instituted and solidified by slavery, yet has survived Emancipation and taken new forms. Jim Crow segregation, for example, is a particularly distinct way in which the color line is enshrined in the law and custom of the South. However, although the color line may seem overwhelmingly powerful and unbreakable, Du Bois suggests that it might be unstable. There is only so long that two races can live alongside one another in close but highly unequal proximity before the line between them is broken.
The Color Line Quotes in The Souls of Black Folk
The The Souls of Black Folk quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Color Line. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Forethought
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The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line.
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Chapter 11
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Why was his hair tinted with gold? An evil omen was golden hair in my life. Why had not the brown of his eyes crushed out and killed the blue? –For brown were his father's eyes, and his father's father's. And thus in the Land of the Color-line I saw, as it fell across my baby, the shadow of the Veil.
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The Color Line Symbol Timeline in The Souls of Black Folk
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Color Line appears in The Souls of Black Folk. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Forethought
...of interest to them because “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line .” He asks that the reader forgive any inaccuracies, and describes the book as merely...
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Chapter 2: Of the Dawn of Freedom
...by repeating the statement that “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line .” He presents this as a global problem, rather than one that solely affects the...
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...repeating its first claim, that the “problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line .”
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Chapter 9: Of the Sons of Master and Man
Although Du Bois often speaks of the color line , it is usually impossible to draw an actual geographical line indicating racial segregation. Poor...
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...irreconcilable with their religious beliefs. He argues that, contrary to the opinion of many whites, the color line thwarts the drawing of accurate “lines of crime.” People must accept that racial prejudice causes...
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Chapter 11: Of the Passing of the First-Born
...life as “perfect,” explaining that he was loved by everyone and that he “knew no color-line.” At the child’s funeral, however, white people glanced at the procession and exclaimed: “Niggers!”. Du...
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