But Art Is Not Simply Works Of

The Problem Of The Twentieth Century Is The Problem Of The Color-line, -- The Relation Of The Darker To The Lighter Races Of Men In Asia And Africa, In America And The Islands Of The Sea.

We Black Men Seem The Sole Oasis Of Simple Faith And Reverence In A Dusty Desert Of Dollars And Smartness.

The Nation Has Not Yet Found Peace From Its Sins; The Freedman Has Not Yet Found In Freedom His Promised Land. Whatever Of Good May Have Come In These Years Of Change, The Shadow Of A Deep Disappointment Rests Upon The Negro People,—a Disappointment All The More Bitter Because The Unattained Ideal Was Unbounded Save By The Simple Ignorance Of A Lowly People.

The Music Of An Unhappy People, Of The Children Of Disappointment; They Tell Of Death And Suffering And Unvoiced Longing Toward A Truer World, Of Misty Wanderings And Hidden Ways.

For Education Among All Kinds Of Men Always Has Had, And Always Will Have, An Element Of Danger And Revolution, Of Dissatisfaction And Discontent.