African American Civil Rights Activist: W. E. B. Du Bois

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William Edward Burghardt also know as W.E.B. Du Bois is an american civil rights activist born on the 23rd of February in 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts in the United States. Du Bois died on August 27, 1963, in Accra, Ghana at the age of 95. At the age of 15 he was a correspondent for the Springfield Republican and New York Globe. He became the first African American valedictorian for Great Barrington High school.Du Bois attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee where he studied classical literature, German, Greek, Latin, Philosophy, Chemistry, and Physics. While at Fisk University he was a chief editor of Fisk Herald, where he wrote about his views on racism. After Fisk University he went on to attend Harvard University to study history and social science, where he graduated cum laude in philosophy. From he went on to graduate school to where he studied political science where he received his masters in 1892. Due to his educational background he was awarded a Slater fund grant which allowed him to study abroad from 1892 …show more content…

Du Bois interviewed thousands of residents in Philadelphia about their living conditions, from this study he concluded that the things that the black people endured was an inequality based on their race. “The Souls of Black Folk” in 1803 is considered his greatest work, it focused on how racism effected the African American community. In this book he also talked about Book T. Washington, he believed that Washington didn’t fight for equality for all as the 14th amendment stated should happened. This led to formation of the Niagara Movement, a group of African American leaders and scholars that oppose Booker T. Washington conservative platform. Although the Niagara Movement didn’t last long it lead to the formation of the NACCP (National association for the Advancement of Colored