W.E.B. DuBois

William Edward Burghardt DuBois (February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an African American civil rights activist, sociologist, historian, writer, editor, poet, freemason, and scholar. Although born in the United States, he became a naturalized citizen of Ghana in 1963.

Early life and education

DuBois was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts to Alfred and Mary DuBois. As a youth, his intellectual development was spurred through an interest in the condition of his race while in high school. He showed promise academically and wanted to attend Harvard University. He instead attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee where the tuition was much less costly.

Related Topics:
Great Barrington, Massachusetts - Race - Harvard University - Fisk University - Nashville, Tennessee

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At Fisk, DuBois was first exposed to the social system of segregation and the Jim Crow laws. During his summers in Tennessee, DuBois taught in a county school in rural Alexandria, Tennessee and witnessed considerable poverty and hardship.

Related Topics:
Segregation - Jim Crow - Tennessee - County - School - Poverty

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After graduating with a B.A in 1890 from Fisk, he received scholarships that enabled him to attend Harvard where he studied history and philosophy. Here, he lived off-campus on Flagg St. in Cambridge, MA near the Charles River that separates Cambridge and Boston. He never fully felt himself a part of the university and remarked that he was "In Harvard, but not of it."

Related Topics:
B.A - 1890 - Harvard - History - Philosophy - Cambridge, MA - Charles River - Cambridge - Boston

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In 1895 he became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard. After receiving travel grants in part from his dispute with former U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes over racist comments made in the Boston Herald, DuBois travelled in Europe, and studied in Berlin. While in Europe, he was able to correlate the struggles of African Americans with that of the people of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Following this, he studied the lives and situations of African-Americans, applying social science to problems of race relations.

Related Topics:
1895 - Ph.D. - Harvard - Travel - U.S. - President - Rutherford B. Hayes - Racist - Boston Herald - Europe - African Americans - People - Africa - Asia - Latin America - Social science - Race

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