Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois?

Question

i was just wondering if someone describe what chapter XIII: Of the Coming of John means.... im slightly confused with it.... also can someone help me understand the metaphor he uses to describe the separation between whites and blacks by "the veil" and the black sense of "twoness" ...

please help me with whatever you can....

Answer 1

The veil can be compared to "rose-colored glasses." The veil allows the people to peek through to the "new world" they have now (after slavery was abolished) and they are told how wonderful it is to be an American and how many rights and luxuries they have. The truth was, before the Civil Rights movement, it was extremely difficult (if not almost impossible) for African-Americans to have the same rights that White Americans had.

The two-ness is, being both Black and American. As an American, they are told, you have the rights to freedom, education, etc. But as an African-American of the time, they are still down-trodden and oppressed. How can you have one thing in one hand, and it is taken away or swatted away in the other?