WEB Du Bois

This is a picture of one of the most important African American protest leaders in the United States in the first half of the 20^th century: W.E.B. Du Bois. Du Bois, born in 1868, has written many books, shared the creation of what is known as the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and edited a magazine called The Crisis for 24 years. Do Bois went to a African American college in Nashville, Tennessee called Fisk University, and he graduated in the year 1888. He later went on to earn his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1895. He may have had a history degree, but he had a vast knowledge of social sciences, and he was concerned with the conditions African Americans were in at the time. Du Bois lived in a time where lynching, Jim Crow segregation laws, riots, and disfranchisement was at its highest, and he argued that social change could come about through means of protest and agitation. This opinion clashed with another man who was one of the most influential African American leader of the time, Booker T. Washington. Washington believed that African Americans should accept discrimination for the time being and move forward, work harder, and become economically sound. In 1905 Du Bois founded the Niagara Movement, which basically attacked Booker T. Washington’s platform. This group met regularly until about 1909, and stopped due to internal squabbles and opposition from Washington. However, this was important because it ended up being an inspiration for the creation of the NAACP. Du Bois later in life joined the Communist Party in 1961. He was very much into the ideas and practices of socialism.

-Jake Robinson