"Of the Sons of Masters and Man"

In W.E.B. Du Bois' The Souls of Black Folk, I read "Of the Sons of Master and Man."

What I got out of this essay was that whites and African-Americans are alienated from one another. Well, not totally. Du Bois tends to get rather elitist when he says that the upper-class whites are exposed to the seedy African-Americans rather than the exemplary members of the race, with the result that the whites lump all African-Americans together; meanwhile, exemplary African-Americans are exposed more to seedy white people. (Du Bois also mentions Jews who exploit African-Americans, but that was changed in later editions.) But his overall point seems to be that African-Americans and whites do not really know one another. At least in slavery days, Du Bois points out, they knew each other.

According to Du Bois, whites assume that African-Americans are shiftless or criminal, neglecting that this may be due to lack of education and opportunities for African-Americans---which occurred immediately after the Civil War, when African-Americans were released from slavery and left hanging in a competitive world. That appears to be one reason why Du Bois wants a "talented tenth" of African-Americans to lead and guide their people to use their freedom responsibly. Meanwhile, African-Americans distrust white society. Du Bois understands their frustration, and may even share it; but he bends over backward at least to appear to give white society the benefit of a doubt. In this essay, for example, he lauds the generosity of white society in giving alms to African-Americans in need, even though he deems that by itself to be inadequate. (Most likely, he wants African-Americans to learn how to fish, not to rely on handouts.)