W.E.B. DuBois was one of the founders of the NAACP, which formed in 1910. DuBois was at the time one of the leading intellectuals in the United States, but his achievements were somewhat of an anomaly, as the vast majority of African-American men saw their talents unfulfilled under the racial system of Jim Crow in the South and structural racism in the North. DuBois was among the leaders of a group of philanthropists, activists, and intellectuals who founded the NAACP, which was formed to attack these injustices. He served as editor of The Crisis, the NAACP newspaper, a position which made him the leading black voice in the United States. DuBois fell out with the NAACP before World War II as his views on black nationalism began to diverge from their "color-blind" vision for social justice. After the war, however, he returned to the fold. He never saw eye-to-eye with the essentially moderate, legalistic approach to integration espoused by the NAACP, but he remained a member of the organization until his death.
Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
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