Of the Dawn of Freedom Essay

In Of the Dawn of Freedom, author W. B. Du Bois (1903) points out the historical basis for the pains of racism as a problem. Written almost three decades later on the civil war, the text is addressed to both African-American and livid pack who comfort themselves with the illusion that the granting of the right of suffrage to African-Americans instantly solved the problems of inequality.This is unembellished in how Du Bois illustrates that contrary to popular perception, the Civil War did not completely lead to the emancipation of African-Americans and that the subsequent Negro suffrage ended a civil war by beginning a race struggle (34) wherein African-Americans became the subject of contempt of Southern White populations who fought against the abolishment of knuckle downry. Indeed, Du Bois observations accurately reflect the situation of African-Americans until today. Clearly, African-Americans are still subjected to deeply-held stereotypes that systematically degrade and d ebase them on the basis of what Du Bois calls the color-line. (9)Despite the abolition of slavery, African-Americans abided to be socially-marginalized. Consequently, African-Americans situation as a segregated servile caste (37) after(prenominal) slavery was abolished only resulted in the formation of a double thought or an identity confusion owing to the lack of their clear use in society and their alienation from the dominant White culture. In effect, the abolition of slavery also uprooted both African-Americans and White Americans from the customs and clear norms that arose from centuries of slavery.Without the delineations of the slave order, African-Americans found it difficult to establish their identity especially as the White Americans did not want to accommodate the ex-slaves into the folds of society. It is therefore not surprising that African-Americans continue to be subjected to racist perceptions. As Du Bois rightly points out, the freedom of the Black Americans w as light-green in so far as the Whites regarded them not as their equals only if looked condescendingly at the newly-freed Black people as their inferiors and helpless wards. (34)