W.E.B. Du Bois, an American sociologist, author, activist, and co-founder of the NAACP, passed away on this day in history, August 27, 1963, in Accra, Ghana at the age of 95. He was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement and was considered one of the most important Black protest leaders in the United States during the first half of the 20th century, as noted by Britannica.com. Born as William Edward Burghardt Du Bois in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, to Mary Silvina Burghardt and Alfred Du Bois, a barber and laborer, according to the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.
Du Bois was descended from mixed-race Bahamian slaves, and his father had enlisted as a private in a New York regiment of the Union army during the Civil War but reportedly deserted shortly after. Raised by his mother and extended family, he received a college preparatory education in Great Barrington’s racially integrated high school. In June 1884, he became the first African American graduate, a significant achievement highlighted by the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.
In 1888, Du Bois enrolled at Harvard University as a junior, after first attending Fisk University in Tennessee. He obtained a BA cum laude in 1890, an MA in 1891, and a PhD in 1895. He was the first Black American to earn a PhD from Harvard, and later went on to co-found the NAACP in 1909 and edit its magazine, The Crisis, from 1910 to 1934. He was also known for his collection of essays, “The Souls of Black Folk” (1903), considered a landmark of African American literature.
During his time as a professor at Atlanta University, Du Bois gained national prominence by openly opposing Booker T. Washington’s “Atlanta Compromise,” which argued for vocational education over higher education and political rights for African Americans. Du Bois believed in demanding full equality as granted by the 14th Amendment and was critical of Washington’s stance. His activism and scholarship aimed to advance civil rights and fight against racial discrimination, in alignment with the mission of the NAACP to secure the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
In his later years, Du Bois worked on a project to create a new encyclopedia of the African diaspora, which was funded by the government of Ghana. He became a citizen of Ghana in 1961 and moved there to oversee the project. Du Bois passed away in Ghana on August 27, 1963, the day before the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at the age of 95. His legacy as a civil rights pioneer and intellectual continues to inspire generations in the fight for equality and social justice.
