Free Essays on W.E.B. Dubois

W.E.B. Dubois, the most influential African American intellectual of his day, shaped modern African American cultural values. William Edward Burghardt Dubois was born on February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, the only child of Alfred and Mary Dubois. There were few African Americans in Great Barrington, and William Edward was the only African American in his high school graduating class. Throughout his academic career, Dubois distinguished himself as a top student; he also displayed an early interest in the condition of the African American people by becoming a local correspondent for the New York Globe, an African American newspaper, at the age of fifteen. A prolific writer throughout his life, he wrote, as a teenager, about the need for African Americans to advance in the American political arena. Upon graduation he wished to attend Harvard, the top university in the nation; although his academic achievements were sufficient, he lacked financial resources, so in 1885 he accepted a scholarship to Fisk College instead, and spent the next few years at Fisk in Nashville, Tennessee. While at Fisk, he spent two summers teaching at a local school; it was the first time he had been exposed to the harsh realities of African American life in the South. This experience helped him to develop his ideas regarding the need for African American educational opportunities and cu ltural advancement. After graduating from Fisk in 1888, Dubois applied again to Harvard, he was accepted, and graduated from Harvard with a second bachelor’s degree in 1890. His primary fields of study included history, philosophy, economics, and political science. By 1891 he had also earned a master’s degree from that university and began working to obtain his doctorate. He won a grant to study for two years in Berlin, Germany, and returned to take his doctorate, becoming the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. Du... Free Essays on W.E.B. Dubois Free Essays on W.E.B. Dubois Children learn more from what you are than what you teach. - WEB Dubois, 1897 W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt) Dubois was born on February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He was one of the most influential black leaders of the first half of the 20th Century. Dubois shared in the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, in 1909. He served as its director of research and editor of its magazine, "Crisis," until 1934. Born in 1868 during the painful period of Reconstruction, Du Bois was graduated from Fisk University in 1888 and went on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1895 before entering the worlds of academe and activism. Using Atlanta University as his base from 1897-1910, he opposed Booker T. Washington's educational views as too limiting, preferring to organize young black intellectuals in the Niagara Movement. In 1909 he founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and in 1910 launched its historic magazine, THE CRISIS. During this period he also published his classic treatise, THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK (1903), the best known of many passionate and well-argued philosophical and sociological studies of his race, which also included THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO, JOHN BROWN, THE GIFT OF BLACK FOLK, BLACK RECONSTRUCTION, COLOR AND DEMOCRACY: COLONIES AND PEACE. Dubois was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1896. Between 1897 and 1914 Dubois conducted numerous studies of black society in America, publishing 16 research papers. He began his investigations believing that social science could provide answers to race problems. Gradually he concluded that in a climate of virulent racism, social change could only be accomplished by agitation and protest. Author, journalist, social reformer, activist, poet, philosopher, and educator W.E.B. Du Bois wield... Free Essays on W.e.b. Dubois W.E.B. Dubois, the most influential African American intellectual of his day, shaped modern African American cultural values. William Edward Burghardt Dubois was born on February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, the only child of Alfred and Mary Dubois. There were few African Americans in Great Barrington, and William Edward was the only African American in his high school graduating class. Throughout his academic career, Dubois distinguished himself as a top student; he also displayed an early interest in the condition of the African American people by becoming a local correspondent for the New York Globe, an African American newspaper, at the age of fifteen. A prolific writer throughout his life, he wrote, as a teenager, about the need for African Americans to advance in the American political arena. Upon graduation he wished to attend Harvard, the top university in the nation; although his academic achievements were sufficient, he lacked financial resources, so in 1885 he accepted a scholarship to Fisk College instead, and spent the next few years at Fisk in Nashville, Tennessee. While at Fisk, he spent two summers teaching at a local school; it was the first time he had been exposed to the harsh realities of African American life in the South. This experience helped him to develop his ideas regarding the need for African American educational opportunities and cu ltural advancement. After graduating from Fisk in 1888, Dubois applied again to Harvard, he was accepted, and graduated from Harvard with a second bachelor’s degree in 1890. His primary fields of study included history, philosophy, economics, and political science. By 1891 he had also earned a master’s degree from that university and began working to obtain his doctorate. He won a grant to study for two years in Berlin, Germany, and returned to take his doctorate, becoming the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. Du...