對一黑人女孩的忠告
Advice to a B1ack Schoolgirl

    愚昧無知解決不了任何問題。

    賓夕法尼亞州伯溫的一位白人中學教師寫信給杜波伊斯，告訴他說，有位黑人學生「非常聰明」，但拒絕學習，因為她覺得「將來決不會有運用自己知識的機會」。1905年1月7日，杜波伊斯給這位名叫韋妮利亞‧法雷娜的學生寫信。全文如下：

    我想知道，你是否願意讓我這個陌生人給你談談你的情況? 我聽說，你是位頗有才能的年輕姑娘．但卻在荒廢學業，因為你對將來能在世上有所作為已不抱希望。對此我深感遺憾。任何人，擁有生活於二十世紀的好運氣，但竟然在通常看來頗為有利的條件下，對生活失去信心，這幾乎是令人難以置信的。不僅如此，假如這個人，像我一樣，是個黑人，而且億萬人在某種程度上都依靠她的奮鬥，對她傾注了所有的希望和期盼，那麼，她的抱怨近乎犯罪。

    在今日美國，成千上萬的黑人女孩假如擁有你現在正要丟棄的受教育機會，她們將會感到無比幸福。假如你能培養自己，就像你現在可以輕而易舉地辦到一樣，那麼，在你的前頭將出現奇妙的用武之地：你可以加入現在擁有一萬五千名女性的教師隊伍，加入成百上千的護士和醫生隊伍，加入人數愈來愈多的職員和速記員的隊伍，而且最緊要的是，你還可以加入家庭主婦的行列。愚昧無知解決不了任何問題。當你接受了有可能得到的最佳教育，機遇之門就將在你面前敞開，就像為你成千上萬的夥伴敞開一樣。另一方面，一個黑人每錯過一次機會，就使同種族中的其他人更難獲得這樣的機會。你想斷送明日男女兒童的機會嗎?

I wonder if you will let a stranger say a word to you about yourself? I have heard that you are a young woman of some ability but that you are neglecting your school work because you have become hopeless of trying to do anything in the world. I am very sorry for this. How any human being whose wonderful fortune it is to live in the 20th century should under ordinarily fair advantages despair of life is almost unbelievable. And if in addition to this that person is, as I am, of Negro lineage with all the hopes and yearnings of hundreds of millions of human souls dependent in some degree on her striving, then her bitterness amounts to crime.

      There are in the U.S. today tens of thousands of colored girls who would be happy beyond measure to have the chance of educating themselves that you are neglecting. If you train yourself as you easily can, there are wonderful chances of usefulness before you: you can join the ranks of 15,000 Negro women teachers, of hundreds of nurses and physicians, of the growing number of clerks and stenographers, and above all of the host of homemakers. Ignorance is a cure for nothing. Get the very best training possible & the doors of opportunity will fly open before you as they are flying before thousands of your fellow's. On the other hand every time a colored person neglects an opportunity, it makes it more difficult for others of the race to get such an opportunity. Do you want to cut off the chances of the boys and girls of tomorrow?