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Biography: W.E.B. du Bois (1868-1963)
By Claudia M. Stolz
"I have been uplifted by the thought that what I have done will live long and justify my life."
Almost one hundred years old when he died in Ghana, Africa,
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois left a legacy rich not only
in the area of civil rights but also in history and sociology.
This intellectual, the first African American to receive a Ph.D.
from Harvard, was born and raised in the predominately white
community of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where he lived
alone with his mother after his father deserted. His social
activism began early. At age 16 he wrote for the New York Globe,
an African American weekly, in which the seed of his philosophy
in later life can be found, for he identified the need for people
of color to act as a group if progress toward equality were
to be made. Graduating first in his class and holding the distinction
of being the first African American to graduate from this high
school, Du Bois left his sheltered childhood to attend Fisk
University in Nashville, on a scholarship provided by a prominent
group of Great Barrington men, and entered the world of Jim
Crow; it also was the first time he experienced a predominately
African-American community. After graduating from Fisk, he realized
his dream of a Harvard education; unfortunately, the University
made him repeat two years of undergraduate studies before he
could embark on graduate studies. Undaunted, Du Bois received
another B.A., with honors, in 1890, a master's in 1892, and
a doctorate in 1895. During this time he produced two important
works, "The Enforcement of the Slave Trade," his published
thesis, and The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the
United States of America: 1638-1870, his doctoral dissertation.
While at Harvard he involved himself with the black community
by writing for the Black Courant, a newspaper, and by giving
speeches that promoted the intellectual and cultural endeavors
of members of his race.
He began his life as a professor at Wilberforce University
in Ohio, moved to the University of Pennsylvania where he
published The Philadelphia Negro (1899), a landmark work in
urban sociology, and then he taught history and economics
at Atlanta University. In 1900 he founded the Pan-African
Association, an international organization that promoted solidarity
among people of African-American descent. During the course
of his life, he wrote more than 20 works, including five novels.
Some of the most notable and enduring works are The Souls
of Black Folk (1903), John Brown (1909), and Black Reconstruction
(1935). In addition he wrote two autobiographies, a collection
of essays on race, history, and sociology, and contributed
regularly to various journals, both as editor and writer.
Unlike Booker T. Washington, whom he called an accommodater,
because of his stance on separate but equal and his emphasis
on vocational education, Du Bois believed black Americans
should have the same opportunities for academic excellence
in all fields as whites and that discrimination should be
ended. As a result, the whites viewed him as a radical, especially
after he helped to found the Niagara Movement (1905), a group
that demanded civil rights and equality. In 1910, when the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) was formed, Du Bois was the only non-white elected
officer. As director of publicity and research for the NAACP,
he founded a monthly journal, The Crisis, which he edited
for 24 years. After Washington's death, he became the most
influential spokesperson for African Americans.
Resigning from The Crisis in 1934, he returned to teaching
at Atlanta University. His national influence began to wane
due to his perceived radical views. In 1943 Atlanta U forced
him into retirement at age 76. Du Bois was not ready to retire.
Instead, he accepted a position with the NAACP. In the next
few years he acted as consultant to the U.S. delegation at
the founding of the United Nations. Fired from his position
as the NAACP's special research director, he once again was
unemployed-at the age of 80. Never one to be idle, he became
associated with the Council on African Affairs, an African
nationalist group. In 1950 he became chairman of the International
Peace Movement and was asked to run for the U.S. Senate on
the Labor Party ticket, which he did and lost. His affiliation
with the Peace Movement group played a role in his indictment
as an agent of a foreign government. Fearing that they, too,
would be labeled as communists, many of his friends withdrew
from him, lecture bookings dried up, and he had difficulty
publishing his works. In 1963 in protest of the anti-Communist
hysteria that had existed in America, affecting him and many
others, Du Bois joined the communist party and left the U.S.
to live in Ghana. When the United States denied the renewal
of his passport, Du Bois renounced his American citizenship.
The words he spoke at age 90 took on a new meaning: "
I would have been hailed with approval if I had died at 50.
At 75 my death was practically requested," and when he
died at age 95, Du Bois's native land shunned him by not sending
a delegate to the state funeral provided by Ghana. W.E.B.
Du Bois, scientist, scholar, and activist for human rights,
has come home in the sense that the man and his contributions
are now applauded in America.
This essay was submitted by Claudia
M. Stolz, a professor at Indiana University East in Richmond,
Indiana.
Activity Suggestions
1. After reading about the life of W.E.B. Du Bois, make a time-line
of important events and achievements in his lifetime. Include
an illustration with each entry.
2. W.E.B. Du Bois published many works including The Philadelphia
Negro, The Souls of Black Folk, John Brown, and Black Reconstruction.
He also wrote two autobiographies, essays on race and history,
and was published in various journals. Read one of his works
and summarize its content in an essay of your own. Give the
main points of the work and conclude with your opinion of
his ideas and writing style.
3. Increasingly radical in his views as he aged, do you think
W.E.B. Du Bois helped or hindered the advancement of blacks
with his staunch position on segregation? Outline your opinion
in an essay giving specific examples of his views and yours.
Ideas submitted by Debbie Dickerson,
a social studies teacher in Kansas.
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