W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963)
Author of The Souls of Black Folk
About the Author
Civil rights leader and author, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts on February 23, 1868. He earned a B.A. from both Harvard and Fisk universities, an M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard, and studied at the University of Berlin. He taught briefly at Wilberforce show more University before he came professor of history and economics at Atlanta University in Ohio (1896-1910). There, he wrote The Souls of Black Folk (1903), in which he pointed out that it was up to whites and blacks jointly to solve the problems created by the denial of civil rights to blacks. In 1905, Du Bois became a major figure in the Niagara Movement, a crusading effort to end discrimination. The organization collapsed, but it prepared the way for the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), in which Du Bois played a major role. In 1910, he became editor of the NAACP magazine, a position he held for more than 20 years. Du Bois returned to Atlanta University in 1932 and tried to implement a plan to make the Negro Land Grant Colleges centers of black power. Atlanta approved of his idea, but later retracted its support. When Du Bois tried to return to NAACP, it rejected him too. Active in several Pan-African Congresses, Du Bois came to know Fwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, and Jono Kenyatta the president of Kenya. In 1961, the same year Du Bois joined the Communist party, Nkrumah invited him to Ghana as a director of an Encyclopedia Africana project. He died there on August 27, 1963, after becoming a citizen of that country. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by W. E. B. Du Bois
Du Bois: Writings: The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade, The Souls of Black Folk, Dusk of Dawn, Essays and… (1987) 456 copies
The Autobiography of W. E. B. Du Bois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century (1968) 145 copies
The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America, 1638-1870 (1634) 127 copies
W.E.B. Du Bois: Black Reconstruction (LOA #350): An Essay Toward a History of the Part whichBlack Folk Played in the… (2021) 65 copies
Up from Slavery / The Souls of Black Folk / Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (2007) — Contributor — 57 copies
An ABC of Color: Selections Chosen by the Author from Over a Half Century of His Writings (1964) 55 copies
W. E. B. DuBois on Sociology and the Black Community (Heritage of Sociology Series) (1978) 26 copies
The Negro Church: Report of a Social Study Made under the Direction of Atlanta University; Together with the… (2003) 21 copies
The Negro in the South: His Economic Progress in Relation to His Moral and Religious Development (1970) 19 copies
The Problem of the Color Line at the Turn of the Twentieth Century: The Essential Early Essays (American Philosophy… (2008) 15 copies
The Correspondence of W.E.B. Du Bois: Selections, 1944-1963 (Correspondence of W. E. B. Du Bois) (1978) 10 copies
Africa: Its Geography, People, and Products [and] Africa: Its Place in Modern History (1977) 8 copies
W. E. B. Du Bois: International Thought (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) (2022) 6 copies
The W.E.B. Dubois Collection 3 copies
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom / The Souls of Black Folk / Behind the Scenes / Life of Josiah Henson / Narrative… (2015) — Contributor — 3 copies
Behold the Land 3 copies
Africa: Its Place in Modern History 2 copies
The story of Benjamin Franklin 2 copies
Crisis 2 copies
Black American Classics: 11 books in a single file (Samizdat Edition with Active Table of Contents), improved 2/27/2011 (2009) 2 copies
A W.E.B. Du Bois reader 1 copy
THE CRISIS WRITINGS 1 copy
The Negro Problem 1 copy
The Souls of White Folk 1 copy
A W.E.B. Dubois Reader 1 copy
The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America 1638-1870; Volume I (2022) 1 copy
Memorabilia 1 copy
The Robin Redbreast 1 copy
W. E. B. DuBois' Confrontation with White Liberalism During the Progressive Era : A Phylon Document 1 copy
DARKWATER (Annotated) 1 copy
The Talented Tenth 1 copy
Jesus Christ In Texas 1 copy
The Negro in Business: Report of a Social Study Made Under the Direction of Atlanta University (Classic Reprint) (2016) 1 copy
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois: Annotated and Illustrated Edition (with Audiobook Access) 1 copy
The Negro in the South 1 copy
The Conservation of Races 1 copy
Of the Coming of John 1 copy
Works of W. E. B. Du Bois 1 copy
The Negro and The Social Evolution of the Black South: Illustrated Black History Collection (2020) 1 copy
Life Seen at Ninety 1 copy
Peace is dangerous 1 copy
约翰・布朗 Yuehan Bulang 1 copy
Encyclopedia of the Negro 1 copy
Associated Works
Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction From the African Diaspora (2000) — Contributor — 526 copies
American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, Volume One: Henry Adams to Dorothy Parker (2000) — Contributor — 436 copies
From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas 1900-2002 (2002) — Contributor — 172 copies
The Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy from 1860 to Now (2008) — Contributor — 153 copies
In Search of Color Everywhere: A Collection of African-American Poetry (1656) — Contributor — 99 copies
The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present (2020) — Contributor — 81 copies
Black Ink: Literary Legends on the Peril, Power and Pleasure of Reading and Writing (2018) — Contributor — 73 copies
Bearing Witness: Selections from African-American Autobiography in the Twentieth Century (1991) — Contributor — 69 copies
A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States: From Colonial Time to the Founding of the NAACP in 1910 (1951) — Preface — 27 copies
Grave Predictions: Tales of Mankind’s Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopian and Disastrous Destiny (2016) 27 copies
Before Harlem: An Anthology of African American Literature from the Long Nineteenth Century (2016) — Contributor — 9 copies
The Origins of Science Fiction (Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection) (2022) — Contributor — 8 copies
Fantastic Imaginings: A Journey Through 3500 Years of Imaginative Writing, Comprising Fantasy, Horror, and Science… (2012) — Contributor — 4 copies
African American Literature: A Concise Anthology from Frederick Douglass to Toni Morrison (2009) — Contributor — 1 copy
Mainstream volume 9 number 11 December 1956 — Contributor — 1 copy
A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States (2 volume boxed set) (1951) — Preface — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- DuBois, William Edward Burghardt
- Birthdate
- 1868-12-23
- Date of death
- 1963-08-27
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA (birth)
Ghana (naturalization) - Birthplace
- Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA
- Place of death
- Accra, Ghana
- Places of residence
- Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Berlin, Germany
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
USSR
Manhattan, New York, USA (show all 7)
Ghana - Education
- Fisk University (BA|1888)
Harvard University (BA|History|1890)
Harvard University (MA|1891)
Harvard University (PhD|1896)
University of Berlin - Occupations
- professor
sociologist
publisher
editor
essayist
playwright (show all 12)
novelist
reporter
historian
poet
travel writer
screenwriter - Relationships
- Du Bois, Shirley Graham (2nd wife)
Cullen, Countee (son-in-law)
Dunbar, Paul Laurence (friend)
Santayana, George (teacher)
James, William (teacher)
Schmoller, Gustav von (teacher) (show all 10)
Treitschke, Heinrich von (teacher)
Ovington, Mary White (friend)
Kelley, Florence (friend)
Bontemps, Arna (friend) - Organizations
- Wilberforce University
University of Pennsylvania
Atlanta University
American Negro Academy (president)
Niagara Movement (co-founder and general secretary)
Moon Illustrated Weekly (founder and editor) (show all 18)
The Horizon: A Journal of the Color Line (founder and editor)
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (co-founder)
Crisis (co-founder editor)
The Brownies' Book (founder and editor)
National Guardian
Peace Information Center (chairman)
American Labor Party (candidate for U.S. Senate)
Pan-African Congress (organizer)
Council of African Affairs (vice chairman)
Encyclopedia of the Negro (editor-in-chief)
Encyclopaedia Africana (director)
Freedomways: A Quarterly Review of the Freedom Movement (cofounder) - Awards and honors
- First black American to receive a doctorate from Harvard University
Fellowship, John F. Slater Fund for the Education of Freedmen
Coined the expression "Talented Tenth"
Published the first black American illustrated weekly
First black American invited by the American Historical Association
Spingarn Medal, NAACP (show all 16)
International Lenin Peace Prize, USSR
His house was declared a National Historic Landmark
United States Postal Service stamp
The Extra Mile medallion
Feast Day, Episcopal Church
Honorary Emeritus Professor, University of Pennsylvania
National Institute of Arts and Letters
Knight Commander of Liberian Humane Order of African Redemption
Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary, President Coolidge
Georgia Writers Hall of Fame
Members
Discussions
W.E.B. Du Bois? in Legacy Libraries (February 2016)
Reviews
Lists
Overdue Podcast (1)
Read These Too (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 142
- Also by
- 57
- Members
- 10,347
- Popularity
- #2,296
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 106
- ISBNs
- 676
- Languages
- 12
- Favorited
- 15
Perhaps the felt relevance indicates that material change can outpace change in attitude and perception.
One of my favorite essays dealt with the history of the Black church. Another, on the death at eighteen months of his firstborn, was a poignant, bitter expression of the divided soul of the Black man.
Reading this book, I was struck again by the thought that accompanied me throughout my visit to the Smithsonian African American History and Culture Museum. No matter which side of what Du Bois calls “the Veil” we find ourselves on, this is our story. This is a book about and for all of us.… (more)