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

3. The steady withdrawal of aid from institutions for the higher

training of the Negro. These movements are not, to be sure, direct results of Mr. Washington’s teachings; but his propaganda has, without a shadow of doubt, helped their speedier accomplishment. The question then comes: Is it possible, and probable, that nine millions of men can make effective progress in economic lines if they are deprived of political rights, made a servile caste, and allowed only the most meagre chance for developing their exceptional men? If history and reason give any distinct answer to these questions, it is an emphatic _No_. And Mr. Washington thus faces the triple paradox of his career: