“The power of the ballot we need in sheer self-defense,—else what shall save us from a second slavery?”

Defending political participation as essential protection against renewed oppression. · The Souls of Black Folk, 1903

• Democracy
• Freedom
• Justice

“The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife,—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self.”

Framing liberation as the achievement of an undivided and fully recognised self. · The Souls of Black Folk, 1903

• Freedom
• Identity
• Struggle

“One ever feels his twoness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings.”

Expressing the divided identity produced by racial exclusion. · The Souls of Black Folk, 1903

• Belonging
• Consciousness
• Identity

“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line.”

A concise statement of the racial conflict Du Bois saw as central to modern history. · The Souls of Black Folk, 1903

• History
• Justice
• Race