Du Bois Between Two Worlds: The Magical Sources of The Souls of Black Folk

Abstract:This essay explores W. E. B. Du Bois’s use of magical sources in his 1903 book The Souls of Black Folk. I argue that Du Bois’s metaphor of the ‘Veil’ refers directly to Black magical traditions, or Conjure, alongside to the scriptural, literary, and philosophical allusions that Du Bois weaves throughout the metaphor of the Veil in Souls. Du Bois had the Conjurer in mind when he described the Black subject in America as a “seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world.” I argue that Du Bois turns to Conjure for the Conjurer’s unique position of ontological displacement, social precarity, and special insight. Like the Conjurer, Du Bois’s Veiled subject exists between two worlds.