W.E.B. Du Bois wrote “Herein lies the tragedy of the age: not that men are poor, – all men know something of poverty; not that men are wicked, – who is good? not that men are ignorant – what is Truth? Nay, but that men know so little about men.” This quote perfectly embodies the United States of America, with all of the vicissitude contained within our country’s history. W.E.B. Du Bois describes the real “tragedy of the age” as the plain and simple issue of men (people) not fully understanding themselves or as an extension, other people. He goes on to describe other issues of the era such as poverty, evil, and ignorance but yet he does not believe these to be the prevailing dilemma. Poverty has been a prevailing issue in the United States and …show more content…
While these are three primary issues during this time period in America’s history, W.E.B. Du Bois argues the root of these issues is simply the lack of understanding of people. He is correct in this fact as what do poverty, evil, and ignorance have in common if not a lack of understanding amongst people? If everyone felt empathy for the poor, there would be no poor, if everyone had understanding for others, there would be no evil, and if everyone valued others perspectives, there would be no ignorance. W.E.B Du Bois found the root of the issue and that is “that men know so little about men”. Prompt 3: Mary Williams was born on March 4th, 1861- the same day that the great former President Abraham Lincoln was first inaugurated as the President of the United States of America. Mary was a Caucasian woman born to a small lower class family in South Georgia where her family worked in agriculture, farming land. She was a newborn baby when the United States Civil War began in 1861. Mary’s father joined the Confederate Army forces as a soldier in hopes of helping aid in the creation of a new confederacy independent from the United