Jessie had such a tempestuous relationship with W. E. B. Du Bois. Why do you think she was so attracted to him? Why do you think she continued the relationship, even though she knew there was no future in it? Do you think she made the correct decision at the end of the book?
He really believed in her. How wonderful for such a young woman to have this amazing man know of her intellect and asking her to come and work for him. She had an amazing job. She lived for this job and was attracted to him. She mentioned more than once she never wanted to marry. She seemed to be happy to be with him when she could. Also she did not want to break up his marriage. But she was upset when she found out there were other women. She did the right thing leaving her job. She wanted to be editor and that would never have happened. I am sorry she did not get another job as an editor. I imagine she enjoyed teaching and was an excellent teacher.
There were a lot of reasons for Jesse to be attracted to WEB Dubois. He was intelligent, most likely charismatic; he respected Jesse as an intellectual equal (almost), and he was civil rights leader. I think part of the attraction might have been that Dubois didn’t put the same expectations on Jesse other paramours would have. She was not interested in the roles generally expected of women at that time. I think Jesse felt valued and loved in her relationship with WEB Dubois. It seemed like at the point she ended the relationship she no longer felt as loved and valued due to her realizations of WEB Dubois’ relationship with Georgia Johnson (and possibly other women). She realized that she was never going to be the editor of The Crisis, her true dream. It made sense that she would end the relationship and her job as neither was really fulfilling to her anymore.