Du Bois, W.E.B. (1868–1963)

WILLIAM EDWARD BURGHARDT Du Bois was a sociologist, author, historian, activist, poet, editor, professor, social reformer, and activist for racial equality. One of the great intellectual and inspirational forces of his era, he was viewed differently by various black leaders. To Martin Luther King, Jr., he was considered an “intellectual giant”; to Booker T. Washington, he was an irritant; to Marcus Garvey, he was a pawn of the white power structure. Although his numerous books, articles, and other writings showed some diversion in thought over his 60 years of writing, his strivings were always directed toward the betterment of social conditions for African Americans.

Du Bois was born in the small mountain community of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Although he possessed a heritage that consisted of an African, Dutch, French, and Huguenot lineage, throughout his life he preferred the label of African American (or, using the common terms in his day, “Negro” or “colored”).

People in his hometown realized that the youngster was intellectually gifted and helped send him to Tennessee's Fisk College, although his dream was to attend prestigious Harvard University. At Fisk, Du Bois wrote for the school newspaper and developed his skills as a public speaker. While in Tennessee, he was also exposed to an increased amount of racism, which included [Page 138]lynching and other forms of violence and discrimination against blacks. After graduating from Fisk, Du Bois fulfilled his dream of attending Harvard, where he received his master's degree and, after attending school in Europe, his Ph.D., becoming the first African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard. After a short-term teaching assignment at a small religious college, he became an instructor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he published one of the great urban studies of the day, The Philadelphia Negro.

W.E.B. Du Bois used metaphorical imagery to explore the plight of African Americans in U.S. society.

The next 13 years were spent as a sociology professor at Atlanta University, an African American institution in Georgia. In 1903, he published one of the most influential books on race relations of the 20th century, The Souls of Black Folk. This work was a compilation of essays that used poetry, political thought, philosophy, history, sociology, and personal commentary. Through the use of thought-provoking metaphorical imagery, Du Bois introduced his readers to terminology such as the “color-line,” the invisible barrier that separates blacks and whites; the “veil,” the screen that obscures an understanding of the problems of black people; and “double-consciousness,” a socio-psychological battle that comes from being both black and American. It was in this work that his burgeoning ideas on social activism and reform became evident.

In 1905, Du Bois gathered a group of black leaders together on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls to form an advocacy group for the rights of blacks. This group was formally incorporated in 1906 under the name The Niagara Movement. The movement lasted five years and, though not in itself a major catalyst of change, it was the precursor to a much more powerful movement, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Du Bois served as an officer and as the editor of the organization's publication The Crisis, which became one of the nation's premier journals.

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