Read the excerpt from The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois. Notwithstanding this, it is equally true to assert that on the whole the distinct impression left by Mr. Washington’s propaganda is, first, that the South is justified in its present attitude toward the [Black man] because of the [Black man's] degradation; secondly, that the prime cause of the [Black man's] failure to rise more quickly is his wrong education in the past; and, thirdly, that his future rise depends primarily on his own efforts. Each of these propositions is a dangerous half-truth.