So i was outside doing yard work today, and i put on the Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Du Bois and i have some thoughts. 1) This book really should have been called Fuck Booker T, because holy hell he roasts Booker T Washington early and often

2) I've been exposed to the concept of double consciousness before (most notably in The Invisible Man) but Du Bois' conception and discription of it is facinating. As a white person, its a concept that's quiet alien to me and seems like hell for black folk to endure

3) I've also been exposed to the concept of the "talented tenth" before, but never so directly and honestly i found it to be the worst of Du Bois. He really fetishizes a classical education and wanted to basically create a intellectual black aristocracy

I found that off putting, paternalistic and anti-democratic. I am highly skeptical of any intellectual elite that wants to establish itself in guilding and sheparding the ignorant masses. He was also really chauvanistic, holding "manliness " as sacred. He read too many Romans imo

My favorite parts of the book were hus discriptions of the actual lives of turn of the century southern black folk, while i do think some of the descriptions did smack a bit of class tourism and were at times condescending they were also quite illuminating

My least favorite parts of the book were his exceptionalism and his rejection of radicalism. I think his social and economic critiques were quite cutting, but they did not go far enough and always seemed to end up deifying the college educated class

Overall, i have really enjoyed it (i'm not quiet finished yet) but i was a bit shocked at what an elitist Du Bois was