William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois was an American civil rights
activist, sociologist, educator, historian, writer, poet and scholar.
Du Bois was born on Feb. 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where he was raised. In 1905, Du Bois was a founder of the Niagara Movement, a protest group consisting of African American scholars and professionals.
In 1909, DuBois, along with others, founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People – the NAACP. From 1920 to 1934, he served on the group’s board of directors and as its director of publicity and research. He edited its monthly magazine, The Crisis.
The NAACP was the leading protest organization during DuBois’ tenure and he was its leading figure.
He returned to the organization from 1944 to 1948 as director of special research. During this time, he was active in placing the grievances of African Americans before the United Nations and writing the famous “An Appeal to the World” in 1947.
Du Bois’ life and work were geared toward gaining equal treatment for Black people and disproving the myths of racial inferiority.
Du Bois was a prolific and gifted scholar. After graduating from high school as valedictorian, he received his bachelor of arts from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. While in college, he spent summers teaching in African American schools in Nashville’s rural areas.
In 1888, he entered Harvard University and received a bachelor of arts cum laude. He received his master of arts from Harvard in 1891 and, four years later, became the first African American to receive a doctorate from the university. His dissertation, “The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America, 1638-1870,” was published as the first in the Harvard Historical Series.
He also pursued graduate degrees in history and economics at the University of Berlin.
Du Bois taught Greek and Latin at Wilberforce University in Ohio, sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, and was a professor of economics and history at Atlanta University.
He edited numerous publications and authored two novels, a book of essays and poetry and two histories of Black people.
Du Bois spent much of his life in support of Pan-Africanism, a movement aimed at encouraging and strengthening bonds between all people of African descent. His final Pan-African gesture was to become a citizen of Ghana in 1961.
Du Bois had two children with his wife, Nina Gomer.
Du Bois died in Ghana on Aug. 27, 1963, at 95 years old, on the eve of the civil rights march in Washington, D.C.