Biography

W.E.B. Du Bois: Scholar and Civil Rights Activist (1868-1963)

Early Life and Education

• Born February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts
• Earned PhD from Harvard (1895)
• Studied at:
  • Fisk University (BA 1888)
  • Harvard University (BA 1890, MA 1891, PhD 1895)
  • University of Berlin (1892-1894)

Academic Career

• Published “The Philadelphia Negro” (1899) - first scientific sociological study of African Americans
• Professor at Atlanta University (1897-1910)
• Authored 21 books and over 100 scholarly articles
• Developed concepts of:
  • “The Talented Tenth”
  • “Double consciousness”
  • “Color line”

Civil Rights Leadership

• Co-founded NAACP (1909)
• Editor of NAACP’s The Crisis magazine (1910-1934)
• Organized Pan-African Congresses (1919-1945)
• Led campaign against lynching and Jim Crow laws
• Advocated for women’s suffrage and labor rights

Political Activism

• Opposed Booker T. Washington’s accommodationism
• Investigated conditions of Black soldiers in WWI
• Supported socialism in later years
• Indicted (and acquitted) as foreign agent during McCarthy era

Later Life and Legacy

• Moved to Ghana (1961)
• Died August 27, 1963 in Accra, Ghana
• Became Ghanaian citizen posthumously
• Works remain foundational to:
  • Sociology
  • African American studies
• Namesake of numerous:
  • University departments
  • Public schools
  • Academic awards

Key Statistics

Achievement	Year/Data
Books published	21
PhD completion	1895 (age 27)
Years editing The Crisis	24
Pan-African Congresses organized	5

“Education must not simply teach work - it must teach life.” - Du Bois