Darkwater · Chapter
The Damnation of Women explained
Du Bois honors Black women, tracing their suffering under slavery, their economic struggles, and their emerging independence.
What happens
Du Bois honors Black women, tracing their suffering under slavery, their economic struggles, and their emerging independence. He argues that despite centuries of rape, family destruction, and labor exploitation, Black women have preserved modesty, strength, and character. He calls for honoring motherhood, economic freedom, and the revolutionary ideals rising from the Black female experience.
Themes in this chapter
Racial Oppression and White Supremacy
Black women are subjected to racial insults, forced labor, and sexual exploitation under white supremacy.
Economic Injustice and Labor Exploitation
Black women work as farm laborers, servants, and washerwomen; low wages and broken families result from economic inequality.
Motherhood and the Black Family
The chapter centers on Black motherhood, family disruption under slavery, and the struggle to preserve family ties.
Double Consciousness and the Veil
Black women are seen through a veil of racial and gender prejudice, yet they achieve self-respect and independence.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
The narrator speaks in first person, honoring Black women and reflecting on their history and struggles.
- Mother
Referenced as the source of the race's strength; the 'mother-idea' is central to the chapter.
- The Woman
The symbolic Black woman, subject of the poem 'Children of the Moon' and the chapter's focus.
- Alexander Crummell
Quoted at length describing the violation and resilience of Black women under slavery.
- Harriet Tubman
Implied in the poem's imagery of flight and freedom, though not named directly.
- Sojourner Truth
Implied in the poem's imagery of flight and freedom, though not named directly.
Key passages
“No other women on earth could have emerged from the hell of force and temptation which once engulfed and still surrounds black women in America with half the modesty and womanliness that they retain.”
Black women have preserved their dignity and femininity despite centuries of sexual exploitation and violence.
Du Bois praises the moral strength of Black women.
“The crushing weight of slavery fell on black women. Under it there was no legal marriage, no legal family, no legal control over children.”
Slavery destroyed the legal and social foundations of Black families, especially for women.
Describes the institutional violence of slavery against Black women.
“We cannot abolish the new economic freedom of women. We cannot imprison women again in a home or require them all on pain of death to be nurses and housekeepers.”
Women's economic independence is irreversible and should not be rolled back.
Du Bois argues for the permanence of women's economic liberation.
“The uplift of women is, next to the problem of the color line and the peace movement, our greatest modern cause.”
Women's rights are among the most important issues of the era, alongside racial justice and peace.
Du Bois links the women's movement to broader social justice.