To kick off Black History Month, here’s a quote from W.E.B Du
Bois, a scholar, activist and the first African-American to earn
a doctorate from Harvard, on what it means to be a soul divided
in America. He speaks here to the “American Negro” in the early
1900s, but his words reverberate even into today, for all of us
of any color, race, sex, and religion. He talks about merging
his Negro soul with his American soul, and explains that the
coexistence of the two is what he wants, not the denial of one
or the other. When we are allowed to let all of what makes us
“us”—our race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.—we do indeed
gain access to our better and truer selves. According to his
biography, "in 1903 W.E.B Du Bois published his seminal work,
The Souls of Black Folk, a collection of 14 essays. In the years
following, he adamantly opposed the idea of biological white
superiority and vocally supported women's rights. In 1909, he
co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) a