"..history cannot ignore W.E.B. Du Bois because history has to reflect truth and Dr. Du Bois was a tireless explorer and a gifted discoverer of social truths. His singular greatness lay in his quest for truth about his own people. There were very few scholars who concerned themselves with honest study of the black man and he sought to fill this immense void. The degree to which he succeeded disclosed the great dimensions of the man." - Martin Luther King Jr.
Born February 23, 1868, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people. Du Bois became one of the most successful social activist, scholar and writer of the twentieth century.
Born February 23, 1868, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people. Du Bois became one of the most successful social activist, scholar and writer of the twentieth century.
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Du Bois was born to Alfred and Mary Du Bois. His father soon left his wife and son not too many years after Du Bois' Birth. Du Bois grew up in a poor but that didn't stop him from receiving the education his mother desired he had.
While growing up in a mostly white-American town Du Bois freely attended school with whites instead of in segregated schools. That being so, he was indeed academically supported by his white educators. He graduated high school in 1884 as valedictorian of his class with a full Scholarship to Fisk University in Tennessee. It was while in Tennessee that Du Bois had first encountered Jim Crow Laws.
While growing up in a mostly white-American town Du Bois freely attended school with whites instead of in segregated schools. That being so, he was indeed academically supported by his white educators. He graduated high school in 1884 as valedictorian of his class with a full Scholarship to Fisk University in Tennessee. It was while in Tennessee that Du Bois had first encountered Jim Crow Laws.
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During his time in Tennessee he began to analyze the deep troubles of American racism. "I came to a region," he wrote, "where the world was split into white and black halves, and where the darker half was held back by race prejudice and legal bonds as well as by deep ignorance and dire poverty. But facing this was not a lost group, but at Fisk a microcosm of a world and a civilization in potentiality. Into this world I leapt with enthusiasm. A new loyalty and allegiance replaced my Americanism: hence-forward I was a Negro." He believed that through the scientific study of the social situations taking place in his environment, that he could emancipate the blacks of America from segregation.
After graduating from Fisk University Du Bois was accepted into Harvard University were he would become the first African American to graduate with a Doctorate from Harvard in the subject of history in 1895. He also studied at the University of Berlin in Germany, with some of the worlds best intellectuals and analyzed the social science of many countries in Europe as well. He taught at Wilberforce University in Ohio, the University of Philadelphia, and Atlanta University were he continued his studies.
With the publication of The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study in 1899, the first case study of a black community in the United States, as well as paper on black farmers, businessmen, and black life in Southern communities, Du Bois established himself as the first great scholar of black life in America.
While teaching History and Economics at Atlanta University, Du Bois planned a long-range series of studies dealing with the issues and problems that faced black Americans. The result was the Atlanta University Studies, which was one of the first continuous sociological surveys in the United States. Du Bois hoped that through scientific study of racism that it would bring an end to segregation and allow greater opportunities for African Americans. But after almost ten years of patient research, Du Bois was shocked into action by the Atlanta Riot of 1906. Disinterested scientific investigation was not enough. He began to see that direct social action was needed.
Booker T. Washington, a very influential African American leader had views on how the issue of black inferiority should be handled that Du Bois strongly disagreed with. Washington asserted that vocational education, which gave blacks an opportunity for economic security, was more valuable to them than social advantages, higher education or political office. W.E.B. Du Bois believed that blacks should fight for equal rights among all. Instead of staying with in the walls of minimum opportunity they should over achieve for the rights they deserve. Du Bois critizes Booker T. Washington's methodology in his book the Souls of Black Folk.
As a result of Du Bois' and Booker T. Washington's oppositions Du Bois' founded The Niagara Movement. An organization that renounced Booker T. Washington's accommodation policies. The organization did not survive for long due to insufficient funds and unpopularity. But it became the forerunner for what would be the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
"I went to Buffalo and hired a little hotel on the Canadian side of the Niagara River and waited for the men to attend the meeting. If sufficient men had not come to pay for the hotel, I should certainly have been in bankruptcy and perhaps jail, but as a matter of fact, twenty-nine representing fourteen states came and the Niagara Movement was born. Its objects were to advocate and promote full manhood suffrage, the abolition of all caste distinctions based on race or color and the recognition of the highest and best human training as the monopoly of no class or race." -W.E.B. Du Bois
concerning the meeting taken place to develop The Niagara Movement.
After graduating from Fisk University Du Bois was accepted into Harvard University were he would become the first African American to graduate with a Doctorate from Harvard in the subject of history in 1895. He also studied at the University of Berlin in Germany, with some of the worlds best intellectuals and analyzed the social science of many countries in Europe as well. He taught at Wilberforce University in Ohio, the University of Philadelphia, and Atlanta University were he continued his studies.
With the publication of The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study in 1899, the first case study of a black community in the United States, as well as paper on black farmers, businessmen, and black life in Southern communities, Du Bois established himself as the first great scholar of black life in America.
While teaching History and Economics at Atlanta University, Du Bois planned a long-range series of studies dealing with the issues and problems that faced black Americans. The result was the Atlanta University Studies, which was one of the first continuous sociological surveys in the United States. Du Bois hoped that through scientific study of racism that it would bring an end to segregation and allow greater opportunities for African Americans. But after almost ten years of patient research, Du Bois was shocked into action by the Atlanta Riot of 1906. Disinterested scientific investigation was not enough. He began to see that direct social action was needed.
Booker T. Washington, a very influential African American leader had views on how the issue of black inferiority should be handled that Du Bois strongly disagreed with. Washington asserted that vocational education, which gave blacks an opportunity for economic security, was more valuable to them than social advantages, higher education or political office. W.E.B. Du Bois believed that blacks should fight for equal rights among all. Instead of staying with in the walls of minimum opportunity they should over achieve for the rights they deserve. Du Bois critizes Booker T. Washington's methodology in his book the Souls of Black Folk.
As a result of Du Bois' and Booker T. Washington's oppositions Du Bois' founded The Niagara Movement. An organization that renounced Booker T. Washington's accommodation policies. The organization did not survive for long due to insufficient funds and unpopularity. But it became the forerunner for what would be the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
"I went to Buffalo and hired a little hotel on the Canadian side of the Niagara River and waited for the men to attend the meeting. If sufficient men had not come to pay for the hotel, I should certainly have been in bankruptcy and perhaps jail, but as a matter of fact, twenty-nine representing fourteen states came and the Niagara Movement was born. Its objects were to advocate and promote full manhood suffrage, the abolition of all caste distinctions based on race or color and the recognition of the highest and best human training as the monopoly of no class or race." -W.E.B. Du Bois
concerning the meeting taken place to develop The Niagara Movement.
Once the NAACP was formed in 1909, Du Bois became its director of research and editor of its magazine, THE CRISIS.
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In the Crisis, Du Bois directed a constant stream of agitation--often bitter and sarcastic--at white Americans while serving as a source of information and pride to African Americans. The magazine always published young African American writers. Racial protest during the decade following World War I focused on securing anti-lynching legislation. During this period the NAACP was the leading protest organization and Du Bois its leading figure.
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Du Bois was a member of the Socialist party from 1910 to 1912 and always considered himself a Socialist. In 1948 he was cochairman of the Council on African Affairs; in 1949 he attended the New York, Paris, and Moscow peace congresses; in 1950 he served as chairman of the Peace Information Center and ran for the U.S. Senate on the American Labor party ticket in New York. In 1950-1951 Du Bois was tried and acquitted as an agent of a foreign power in one of the most ridiculous actions ever taken by the American government. Du Bois traveled widely throughout Russia and China in 1958-1959 and in 1961 joined the Communist party of the United States. He also took up residence in Ghana, Africa, in 1961. He wrote 21 books, edited 15 more , and published over 100 essays and articles.
W.E.B. Du Bois' first wife was Gomer Du Bois who is the mother of his late son Burghardt Du Bois who died at the age of one, and his daughter Yolande Du Bois. Gomer Du Bois died in 1950.
Widowed, Mr. Du Bois remarried to Shirley Lola Graham until his death on August 27, 1963 on the eve of the March on Washington in Accra, Ghana.
"I believe in Liberty for all men; the space to stretch their arms and their souls;
the right to breathe and the right to vote, the freedom to choose their friends,
enjoy the sunshine and ride on the railroads, uncursed by color; thinking,
dreaming, working as they will in a kingdom of God and love."
The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
Widowed, Mr. Du Bois remarried to Shirley Lola Graham until his death on August 27, 1963 on the eve of the March on Washington in Accra, Ghana.
"I believe in Liberty for all men; the space to stretch their arms and their souls;
the right to breathe and the right to vote, the freedom to choose their friends,
enjoy the sunshine and ride on the railroads, uncursed by color; thinking,
dreaming, working as they will in a kingdom of God and love."
The Souls of Black Folk (1903)