# Quote — Es’kia Mphahlele, Down Second Avenue

> The Black man must enter the white man’s house through the back door. The Black man does most of the dirty work… Black man cleans the streets but mustn’t walk freely on the pavement; Black man must build houses for the white man but cannot live in them; Black man cooks the white man’s food but eats what is left over.

- Author: [Es’kia Mphahlele](https://www.leafyquotes.com/eskia-mphahlele.md)
- Book: [Down Second Avenue](https://www.leafyquotes.com/eskia-mphahlele/down-second-avenue.md)
- Page: 6
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Es'kia_Mphahlele#Down_Second_Avenue_(1959)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/eskia-mphahlele/down-second-avenue/the-black-man

## More from this book

> Afrikans, let us find ourselves happening to events, instead of always responding to events happening to us.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/eskia-mphahlele/down-second-avenue/afrikans-let-us-find.md)

> You’ll come back and be able to look after yourself and the two you’re leaving behind.

p. 113 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/eskia-mphahlele/down-second-avenue/youll-come-back.md)

> About eight out of every ten educated Africans, most of whom are also professed Christians, still believe firmly in the spirits of their ancestors.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/eskia-mphahlele/down-second-avenue/about-eight-out.md)