W.E.B.
Du Bois was one of the most influential African American thinkers of the 20th Century.
What topics did Du Bois care about?
What was his overall influence on the African American culture?
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts on February
23, 1868.
As a young man, he decided to attend Fisk College in Nashville, Tennessee.
He was able to attend through generous donations from his local church, as well as support
from neighbors.
It was during college that he experienced segregation enforced by law for the first
time.
After earning a bachelor’s degree from Fisk, he enrolled at Harvard.
He worked his way through three years of attending Harvard, paying for school with loans from
friends, scholarships, and summer jobs.
He earned a second bachelor’s degree in 1891, and in 1895, Du Bois became the first
African American to receive a PhD from Harvard University.
Early in his career, he taught at Wilberforce University, the University of Pennsylvania,
and Atlanta University.
He published his first important study in 1899; it was titled “The Philadelphia Negro”.
This was considered a breakthrough accomplishment because it was the first scientific sociological
study done in the United States.
As the new century began, Du Bois became involved in the Pan-African Movement.
This was a movement which encouraged solidarity for Africans around the world.
He became an influential part of the first Pan-African Conference in London and drafted
a letter to the world.
In this letter, he encouraged nations to fight against racism and grant political rights
to those of African ancestry.
He also encouraged self-governance of the European colonies in Africa.
Du Bois became a well-known critic of Booker T. Washington.
Washington believed that African Americans should accept segregation in exchange for
vocational training and other basic educational opportunities.
Du Bois adamantly disagreed with this position, arguing that blacks should fight for equal
rights.
Through his writings and published papers, Du Bois popularized the term “the talented
tenth”.
This referred to the one-tenth of African Americans that would eventually become leaders
of the race, a position they could only achieve by continuing their education, writing books,
and becoming involved in social change.
Du Bois became an influential and successful writer.
His most important work was The Souls of Black Folk which has been praised as being nearly
as important to the African American community as Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Du Bois helped co-found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
His primary task with the NAACP was to edit the organization’s monthly publication,
The Crisis.
Du Bois wrote many articles for The Crisis, and it became incredibly popular under his
guidance.
The publication had a readership of 100,000 by the year 1920.
Throughout the 1920s, Du Bois clashed with Marcus Garvey, a leading intellectual who
was originally from Jamaica.
Garvey preached a message of “Africa for Africans” and believed that African Americans
should work towards complete separation rather than attempting to integrate.
Du Bois disagreed with this strategy and referred to Garvey as reckless and fraudulent.
Du Bois was initially a supporter of the Harlem Renaissance.
He actively promoted the creative efforts of African American artists.
He even published an article in The Crisis titled “A Negro Art Renaissance”.
However, as the 1920s progressed, he became discouraged that not enough artists and musicians
were using their talents to promote the African American cause.
Du Bois continued to fight for African American rights throughout the remainder of his life.
He died on August 27, 1963 at the age of 95 while living in Ghana, Africa.
Today, he is remembered as one of the most influential African American philosophers
of the 20th Century.
His birth home in Massachusetts is registered as a historical landmark, and his life and
career has been honored in many different ways.