Quick Facts
- NAME: William Edward Burghardt Du Bois
- OCCUPATION: Civil Rights Activist
- BIRTH DATE: February 23, 1868
- DEATH DATE: August 27, 1963
- EDUCATION: Fisk University, University of Berlin, Harvard University
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Great Barrington, Massachusetts
- PLACE OF DEATH: Accra, Ghana
Best Known For
W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the most important African American activists during the first half of the 20th century. He co-founded the NAACP and supported Pan Africanism.
W.E.B. Du Bois. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved 07:10, May 21, 2012 from http://www.biography.com/people/web-du-bois-9279924
W.E.B. Du Bois [Internet]. 2012. http://www.biography.com/people/web-du-bois-9279924, May 21
" W.E.B. Du Bois." 2012. Biography.com 21 May 2012, 07:10 http://www.biography.com/people/web-du-bois-9279924
' W.E.B. Du Bois', Biography.com,(2012) http://www.biography.com/people/web-du-bois-9279924 [accessed May 21, 2012]
" W.E.B. Du Bois," Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/web-du-bois-9279924 (accessed May 21, 2012).
W.E.B. Du Bois [Internet]. Biography.com; 2012 [cited 2012 May 21]. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/web-du-bois-9279924.
W.E.B. Du Bois, http://www.biography.com/people/web-du-bois-9279924 (last visited May 21, 2012).
W.E.B. Du Bois, http://www.biography.com/people/web-du-bois-9279924 (last visited May 21, 2012).
Synopsis
Scholar and activist W.E.B. Du Bois was born on February 23, 1868 in Massachusetts. He studied at Harvard University and in 1895 became the first black American to earn a doctorate. He wrote extensively and was the best known spokesperson for African American rights during the first half of the 20th century. He cofounded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Quotes
There is but one coward on earth, and that is the coward that dare not know.
The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.
To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.
Early Life
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, known as W.E.B. Du Bois, was born on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. While growing up in a mostly European American town, he identified himself as "mulatto," but freely attended school with whites and was enthusiastically supported in his academic studies by his white teachers. In 1885, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to attend Fisk University. It was there that he first encountered Jim Crow laws. For the first time, he began analyzing the deep troubles of American racism. After earning his bachelor's degree at Fisk, Du Bois entered Harvard University. He paid his way with money from summer jobs, scholarships and loans from friends. After completing his master's degree, he was selected for a study-abroad program at the University of Berlin. While a pupil in Germany, he studied with some of the most prominent social scientists of his day and was exposed to political perspectives that he touted for the remainder of his life. In 1895, he became the first African American to earn a doctorate.
Writing and Activism
A year later, Du Bois published his landmark study, The Philadelphia Negro, marking the beginning of his expansive writing career. In the study, he coined the phrase "the talented tenth," a term that described the likelihood of one in 10 black men becoming leaders of their race. While working as a professor at Atlanta University, Du Bois rose to national prominence when he very publicly opposed Booker T. Washington's "Atlanta Compromise," an agreement that asserted that vocational education for blacks was more valuable to them than social advantages like higher education or political office. Du Bois fought what he believed was an inferior strategy and became the spokesperson for full and equal rights in every realm of a person's life.
In 1903, he published his seminal work, The Souls of Black Folk, a collection of 14 essays. In the years following, he adamantly opposed the idea of biological white superiority and vocally supported women's rights. In 1909, he co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and served as the editor of the association's monthly magazine, The Crisis.
Pan Africanism and Death
Du Bois was a proponent of Pan Africanism and helped organize several Pan African Congresses to free African colonies from European powers. He died on August 27, 1963 at the age of 95 in Accra, Ghana, while working on an encyclopedia of the African Diaspora.
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