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W.E.B. Dubois)
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (February 23, 1868 - August 27, 1963) was an American civil rights leader and scholar.
Life
Du Bois (pronounced Dew Boys) was born in the village of Great Barrington, Massachusetts to Alfred and Mary Du Bois. After graduating from Fisk University, he became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard. He travelled in Europe, and studied in Berlin. Following this, he spent many years studying the lives and situations of African Americans, applying social science to problems of race relations.
Du Bois became one of the more notable political activists on behalf of African Americans. A contemporary of Booker T. Washington, he argued with the latter in print about African-American acceptance of issues such as segregation. In 1905, Du Bois helped to found the Niagara Movement, and in 1909 he helped to found the NAACP. In 1910, he left his teaching post at Atlanta University to work as publications director at the NAACP. He was editor-in-chief of The Crisis magazine, an NAACP-sponsored publication, for 25 years before resigning in June 1934. He wrote weekly columns in many newspapers, including the Chicago Defender, the Pittsburgh Courier, the New York Amsterdam News, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Du Bois was investigated by the FBI, who claimed in May of 1942 that "[h]is writing indicates him to be a socialist," and that he "has been called a Communist and at the same time criticized by the Communist Party." J. Edgar Hoover wrote a memo to the FBI on October 6, 1950 that while he is a "strong believer in free speech," a report of a speech made by Du Bois seemed to be "subversive to a degree that makes [his] blood boil," and that he wishes the government "could squelch some of the people who are talking like this Du Bois."
Du Bois acted as chairman of the Peace Information Center when the Korean War started, where he fought for the outlawing of atomic weapons. He was subsequently indicted under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, but acquitted for lack of evidence. In his later years, W. E. B. Du Bois became increasingly disillusioned with both black capitalism and the United States. He joined the Communist Party, USA in 1961 and agreed to announce this in the New York Times.
He was invited to Ghana in the same year by President Kwame Nkrumah to direct the Encyclopedia Africana, a government production, and a long-held dream of his. Without giving up their U.S. citizenship, he and his wife, Shirley Graham Du Bois,(According to Encarta.msn.com Bois did give up his US citizenship because the US government would not renew his passport) became citizens of Ghana. Du Bois' health declined in 1962, and on August 27, 1963 he died in Accra, Ghana at the age of 95.
In 1992, the United States honored W. E. B. Du Bois with his portrait on a postage stamp. On October 5, 1994, the main library at UMass Amherst was named after him.
Quotes
- "I sit with Shakespeare, and he winces not. Across the color line I move arm and arm with Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out of the caves of evening that swing between the strong-limbed Earth and the tracery of stars, I summon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will, and they come all graciously with no scorn nor condescension. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the veil."
- "In my own country for nearly a century I have been nothing but a nigger." - to an audience in Beijing in 1959.
Bibliography
See also
References and external links
de:W.E.B. Du Bois
eo:W.E.B. Du BOIS
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