William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was a Pan-African Civil Rights activist, a sociologist, socialist, and historian. Du Bois was the first African American to earn a doctorate. His rise to fame came in being a leader of the Niagara Movement, which consisted of a group of “intellectual” black Civil Rights activist who sought equal rights. Du Bois referred to the group as the “Talented Tenth”, a name based on his theory that the “elite class” of a nation, both black and white, was important to the achievements in culture and progress. His attributes towards Civil Rights includes being a founder of the NAACP in 1909. He was an author and mainly focused on issues of racism like lynching, Jim Crow laws and discrimination in education and employment. He was pro-Pan-Africanism and helped organize several Pan-African Congresses to fight for the independence of African colonies from European powers. Du Bois was also the editor of the NAACP journal, The Crisis, and published his writings in the journal. Du Bois published his highly acclaimed “The Souls of Black Folk” in 1903, which is a collection of 14 essays.
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Church Affiliation:First Congregational Church of Great Barrington
Role in the Movement:William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois was a Pan-African Civil Rights activist, a sociologist, socialist, and historian.
Birth Place:Great Barrington, MA
Born Date:February 23, 1868
Deceased Date:August 27, 1963
Place Lived as Adult:Berlin, Germany; Nashville, TN; Cambridge, MA; Baltimore, MD; Wilberforce, OH; Xenia, OH; Atlanta, GA; Accra, Ghana;
Church Location:Great Barrington, MA