Blackwell Reference Online

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I once had dinner alone in a hotel restaurant in provincial South Korea. After ordering, I left the dining room for a moment. Upon returning, I thought it necessary to explain that I had already been seated. Before I could, the mâitre de said, “Your meal is waiting for you, sir.” How could he have known who I was amid so many in a very large restaurant? It took a while before I figured it out. The answer, of course, was that I was the one and only white person in the place. I was easy to spot, perhaps even interesting to follow, as I moved irregularly in violation of local prejudices. When, just about a century ago, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote so memorably of the color line, he meant to evoke experiences of this kind, though ones very different in their occurrence and meaning. On my side of the color line, such a prejudice is a curiosity. On the side Du Bois had in mind, it is the fundamental fact of life. This is why Du Bois began his most famous book, The Souls of Black Folk (1903) , as he did: Herein lie buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here at the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader, for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line. I pray you, then, receive my little book in all charity, studying my words with me, forgiving mistake and foible ... log in or subscribe to read full text