academic clutter at his university office, Du Bois penned the epic words that will center my reflections in this essay – 'The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.'" It is important to note that in much of the general usage of the quote, the "problem of the color-line" is implied as only a problem in the United States. However, in Du Bois’ initial writing, he extended the problem across much of the world to "Asia", "Africa", and "the islands of the sea". Du Bois’ thought in "Of the Dawn of Freedom" implied a universal exclusivity, of "color" as the greatest problem of the 20th century. The general use of the term the "color-line" however, is usually in reference to the United States, a possibility Du Bois did not acknowledge in his initial essays. Current usage The phrase circulates in modern vernacular as well as literary theory. For example, Newsweek published a piece by Anna Quindlen entitled "The Problem of the Color Line," about the continuing plague of racial discrimination in the United States. The phrase does not only find use in the print world, either. PBS created a series entitled America Beyond the Color Line with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a documentary series that looked at communities of African Americans in four areas of the United States. The phrase's current use in modern journalism reflects a continued use of the phrase even through the legalized segregation that continued after the abolition of slavery. It reflects a dual meaning of the phrase; one aspect of which reflects a color line created by the law, and the other of which reflects the de facto disparity between life for African Americans in the United States and life for other citizens. The term was also popularized during the emergence of Pentecostalism as it grew in North America. During a religious meeting – the Azusa Street Revival – held in Los Angeles from 1906 to 1909, the journalist, observer, and early adherent Frank Bartleman famously said, "It seemed that everyone had to go to “Azusa.” ... There were far more white people than colored coming. The “color line” was washed away in the blood." References The Color Line. Les artistes africains-americains et la segregation, Musee du quai Branly, Paris African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement