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The Souls of Black Folk, by W.E.B. DuBois, was written in an era of mass deprivation of human rights for the African-American people. DuBois was a social activist and intellectual who believed black Americans should have the same opportunities as all Americans for academic excellence in all fields, and that racial discrimination should be ended. “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line.” By definition, the color-line is the physical separation of the races in public and private life. However, the color-line extended far beyond that of the conventional meaning. This is displayed in one of the most poignant essays in this work, entitled Of the Passing of the First-Born. In this chapter, DuBois speaks in detail about the birth and subsequent death of his first-born son. Here, DuBois vaguely implies that he could find no physician to treat his son: “Out in the starlight I crept, to rouse the