W.E.B. DuBois

William Edward Burghardt DuBois was born in Massachusetts in 1868. He received his B.A. degree from Fisk University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard. After completing his education, DuBois began a long academic career that took him to Wilberforce University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Atlanta University. DuBois became one of Booker T. Washington's sharpest critics. This excerpt from DuBois's masterwork, The Souls of Black Folk, published in 1903, presents an eloquent critique of Washington's belief that civil rights for African Americans should be sacrificed—even temporarily— for economic development. In 1909, DuBois and his followers established the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a national organization that continues to advocate for racial equality for all Americans. DuBois spent his final years in Ghana, Africa, where he...