Both Uses of
portent
in
The Souls of Black Folk
- Whisperings and portents came home upon the four winds: Lo!†
Chpt 1 *portents = signs of things about to happen
- But just as often as they come to this point, the present social condition of the Negro stands as a menace and a portent before even the most open-minded: if there were nothing to charge against the Negro but his blackness or other physical peculiarities, they argue, the problem would be comparatively simple; but what can we say to his ignorance, shiftlessness, poverty, and crime?†
Chpt 9
Definition:
a sign of something about to happen