Du Bois constructs the color-line as a metaphor for racial segregation. According to Du Bois, “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line” (2). This argument for the significance of the color-line is one to which Du Bois returns throughout the essays in order to point out the numerous ways that segregation negatively affects both blacks and whites.

The veil is the psychological distance that exists between whites and African Americans as a result of the color-line. The veil is the result of both willful blindness and ignorance. Du Bois presents himself as a person who can pull back the veil of racial distance for whites. 

In “Of the Black Belt,” Du Bois uses the train as a means for his revelation of the true situation of African Americans in the South. With its segregated cars, the train represents the division of public facilities and spaces for whites and blacks. In “Of the Coming of John,” the train is the means by which John Jones escapes racism in Georgia, in this instance representing the idea of African-American mobility and progress. However, the same train, with its small-town depot crowded with locals, also represents the foreclosure of opportunity when John returns home.