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William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B Du Bois) was born in Great Barring, MA to both his mother Mary Silvina Du Bois and his father Alfred Du Bois. Two years after birth his father left his mother. -
When his mother died, Du Bois was 16 years old and left with no money. To make ends meet he started to work as a time keeper in a local mill.
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In 1888 Du Bois enrolled at Harvard as a junior. He received a BA cum laude, an MA, and a PhD.
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Du Bois published "The Souls of Black Folk", a book consisting of 14 essays in which he highlights some of the most important experiences of being African American.
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Du Bois became NAACP's director of publicity and research and started the organization's official journal, The Crisis.
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In 1920 Du Bois won the Spingarn Medal, awarded yearly by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for an outstanding achievement by an African American.
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Du Bois was awarded the Lenin peace prize in 1959, the Lenin Peace Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the Soviet Union for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology.
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In 1961, Du Bois moved to Accra, Ghana to spend the rest of his life, after fighting against discrimination against African Americans.
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W.E.B Du Bois died in 1963 in Accra, Ghana. His cause of death could not be found. -
Even after death Du Bois is still being awarded, winning the Audie Award for Faith-Based Fiction & Non-Fiction.