The African Roots of the War

In the following article Du Bois argues that while on the surface Africa is fairly distant from the war in Europe, that in the Continent “are hidden the roots, not simply of war to-day but of the menace of wars to-morrow.” He describes in detail the colonial exploitation of Africa by Europeans, and argues that color prejudice paid “dividends” to the colonizers by allowing them to justify their exploitation of Africa on the basis of the supposed inferiority of its people.