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William Edward Burghardt DuBois
(1868-1963) writer, historian and teacher
William Edward Burghardt DuBois was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He was educated at Fisk University, and after receiving his B.A., entered Harvard. He was the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. from that school. At the turn of the century, he became a prominent spokesman for the legal rights of African Americans. In 1905, he along with other African-American intellectuals banded together in a meeting at Niagra Falls, Canada, to organize a program of public agitation for the rights of African-American people. This was the famous Niagara Movement. In 1909, DuBois and other members of that movement joined with white liberals to found the National Association for the Advancement of colored People and DuBois became the editor of its journal, The Crises. DuBois also became a leading spokesperson in oppostion to Booker T. Washington's philosophy of "pulling oneself up by one's own bootstraps, etc.", (through manual education and black capitalism). He believed in higher education and the cultivation of the "Talented Tenth" for leadership in the African-American community.
DuBois's book The Souls of Black Folks, is his sociological study
of African Americans. The book was printed in 28 editions and translated
broadly. Along with Dr. Alain Locke, Du Bois urged African-American artists
in the 1920s to create from the experiences of African-American folk life
and to celebrate their ancient African cultural heritage. The cover illustration
shown on The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races,
was done by Aaron Douglas. Douglas was an artist who followed DuBois'
and Locke's doctrine. His works frequently adorned the covers of literary
works of the Harlem Renaissance period.
DuBois organized the first four Pan-African congresses, and was special minister and envoy at the inauguration of the President of Liberia. He taught at Wilberforce and Atlanta Universities and edited several publications which were significant contributions to the field of social sciences. Outspoken on many issues, he was considered the Father of Pan Africanism and he urged the British to "give the rights of responsible government" to the black colonies of Africa and the West Indies. One of his most famous and prophetic quotes is that "the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line." DuBois became a resident of Ghana at the invitation of President Kwame Nkrumah. He died there in 1963 at the age of 95.