"William Du Bois" redirects here. For other people with a similar name, see
William DuBois.
W. E. B. Du Bois |
W. E. B. Du Bois in 1918 |
Born |
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois
February 23, 1868
Great Barrington, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Died |
August 27, 1963 (aged 95)
Accra, Ghana |
Residence |
Atlanta, Georgia; New York City |
Fields |
Civil rights, sociology, history |
Institutions |
Atlanta University, NAACP |
Alma mater |
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Known for |
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Influences |
Alexander Crummell, William James |
Notable awards |
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Spouse |
Nina Gomer Du Bois, Shirley Graham Du Bois |
Signature
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William Edward Burghardt "
W. E. B."
Du Bois (pronounced
/duːˈbɔɪz/ doo-BOYZ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American
sociologist,
historian,
civil rights activist,
Pan-Africanist, author and editor. Born in
Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community. After graduating from
Harvard, where he was the first
African American to earn a doctorate, he became a professor of history, sociology and economics at
Atlanta University. Du Bois was one of the co-founders of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
Du Bois rose to national prominence as the leader of the
Niagara Movement, a group of African-American activists who wanted equal rights for blacks. Du Bois and his supporters opposed the
Atlanta Compromise, an agreement crafted by
Booker T. Washington
which provided that Southern blacks would work and submit to white
political rule, while Southern whites guaranteed that blacks would
receive basic educational and economic opportunities. Instead, Du Bois
insisted on full civil rights and increased political representation,
which he believed would be brought about by the African-American
intellectual elite. He referred to this group as the
talented tenth and believed that African Americans needed the chances for advanced education to develop its leadership.
Racism was the main target of Du Bois's polemics, and he strongly protested against lynching,
Jim Crow laws, and
discrimination
in education and employment. His cause included colored persons
everywhere, particularly Africans and Asians in their struggles against
colonialism and
imperialism. He was a proponent of Pan-Africanism and helped organize several
Pan-African Congresses
to free African colonies from European powers. Du Bois made several
trips to Europe, Africa and Asia. After World War I, he surveyed the
experiences of American black soldiers in France and documented
widespread bigotry in the United States military.
Du Bois was a prolific author. His collection of essays,
The Souls of Black Folk, was a seminal work in
African-American literature; and his 1935 magnum opus
Black Reconstruction in America challenged the prevailing orthodoxy that blacks were responsible for the failures of the
Reconstruction
era. He wrote the first scientific treatise in the field of sociology;
and he published three autobiographies, each of which contains
insightful essays on sociology, politics and history. In his role as
editor of the NAACP's journal
The Crisis,
he published many influential pieces. Du Bois believed that capitalism
was a primary cause of racism, and he was generally sympathetic to
socialist causes throughout his life.