Quote
By W. E. B. Du Bois
One ever feels his two-ness, — an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.
- Source
- The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches, 1903 · Chapter I, "Of Our Spiritual Strivings", p. 3
- Read at
- Internet Archive (scan of the 1903 first edition, Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co.)
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About this quote
From The Souls of Black Folk (Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1903), Chapter I, "Of Our Spiritual Strivings". It follows his description of double-consciousness. The word "Negro" is Du Bois's own, as used in 1903.