It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at… — W.E.B. Du Bois

It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others... One feels his twoness-an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivngs; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.

The Souls of Black Folk · 1903
★ 3.7
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Current citation
Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt. The Souls of Black Folk, edited by Brent Hayes Edwards. Oxford University Press, 2009, ch. 1.
Original citation
Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt. The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches. A. C. McClurg & Co., 1903, ch. 1.