W.e.b Du Bois

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Recommended: W. e. b. du bois: scholar and activist

W.E.B Du Bois "One ever feels his two-ness. An American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two warring ideals in one dark body whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder." This was how William E. B. Du Bois described how it felt to be a Negro in the beginning of the twentieth century in his book The Souls of Black Folk. W.E.B. Du Bois, was a black editor, historian, sociologist, and a leader of the civil rights movement in the United States. He helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and was its spokesman in the first decades of its existence. William Edward Bughardt Du Bois was born three years following the Civil War, on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. His paternal side was French, settling in America in 1674 and, the Burghardts', his maternal side, were descendants of slaves who fought in the Civil War. William' father died when he was a child and was reared by his mother, and judgmental aunts. Massachusetts was predominately white and so were Du Bois friends. As William grew he realized some people thought that his black skin was a disadvantage. In high school, his teachers encouraged him as a student and school work always came easy to him. Du Bois excelled in Latin and Greek and participated in active discussions about the meaning of Love and Life. At the age of 15, William began to write weekly columns in the New York Globe and Springfield Republican. Attending Harvard was W.E.B.'s longtime dream, however after receiving a scholarship to Fisk University in Nashville he gladly accepted. Du Bois was amazed by the South, he felt a home on the campus of Fisk. William had never been surrounded by fellow blacks, and he began to understand the plight of the Negro. He enjoyed concerts given by Fisk's Jubilee Singers, giving him faith about blacks, and how they will have a better life to come. However, after visiting back home he saw that Tennessee deprived Negroes of citizenship rights, and that Negroes were the blunt of jokes. W.E.B. realized the discrimination and knew something had to happen to improve the lives of Negroes. "I am a Negro, and I glory in the name!," claimed Du Bois in one of his pep speeches at Fisk. &nbs... ... middle of paper ... ...te many books while most notably The Souls of Black Folk that was a collection of essays promoting black leadership in the government. His other works include Black Reconstruction, Dusk to Dawn, and The Autobiography of W.E.B. Du Bois. Later, Du Bois believed that the United States could not solve its racial problems and that the only country opposed to racial discrimination was the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Communist-sponsored International Peace prize in 1952 and the Soviet Lenin Peace prize in 1958. Du Bois joined the Communist party of the United States in 1961 and emigrated to Ghana, where he became a citizen, in 1963. "My great-grandfather was carried away in chains from the Gulf of Guinea," he said, "I have returned that my dust shall mingle with the dust of my forefathers." Du Bois died in Ghana on Aug. 27, 1963. William Edward Bughardt Du Bois was a controversial black leader who was not afraid to speak and write his opinion. With Du Bois, Negroes of America found courage and a source of strength to strive for equality. As W.E.B. Du Bois said: "My leadership was a leadership of ideas. I never was, nor ever will be, personally popular."

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