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W.E.B. Du Bois was born in Great Barrington, MS.
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Du Bois entered college in 1888. He took a bachelor in arts and pursued graduate studies in history and economics at the University of Berlin. Du Bois received his master of arts in 1891 and in 1895 his doctorate in history from Harvard.
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W.E.B. Dubois was the first African-American to receive a doctorate in history from Harvard University
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In the years 1896 and 1897 Du Bois conducted a sociological study on the urban community during his time as assistant sociological director at the University of Pennsylvania. He published his work as The Philedelphia Negro: A Social Study in 1899
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Du Bois was the leader of the first Pan-Africanism (the belief that all people of African descent had common interests and should work together for their freedom) conference in London in 1900. He also was a key participant in several other conferences held between 1919 and 1927.
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Du Bois published his work The Souls of Black Folk. In his work he stated that Washington's strategy at the time to free blacks from oppression would only continue the oppression. His views differed from other black leaders who urged, instead, that black people accept discrimination and work hard to obtain their goals, thus gaining the respect of white people
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Du Bois was a founder of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
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1910-1934 Du Bois worked as the NAACP's director of publicity and research and was lead editor of the Crisis (The Crisis was the NAACP's newspaper). His work on the Crisis required him to field agitation and pride. The Crisis often published the works of young African Americans and during WWI worked to secure legislation on anti-lynching.
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Dubois briefly joined the socialist party in 1912. Throughout he rest of his life he would be sympathetic with Marxist ideas.
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In 1940 he founded the magazine Phylon.
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Published work Dusk of Dawn (subtitled An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept). In this book, Du Bois explained his role in the blacks' struggle for freedom and gave brilliant insight into the complexities of the black and white struggle.
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Du Bois worked to bring the grievances of African Americans before the United Nations (UN).
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In 1951 Du Bois was accused of being pro-Russian. And although Du Bois was eventually acquitted by a federal judge, he remained thereafter disallusioned with the U.S.
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In 1961 Du Bois officially joined the Communist Party and moved to Ghana whereupon he renounced his U.S. citizenship.
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Du Bois died in Ghana in 1963 on the eve of the famous march on D.C. He was given a state funeral.
