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W. E. B. Du Bois

だぶい-いー-びー-でゅぼいす（うぃりあむ・えどわーど・ばーがーと・でゅぼいす）

W. E. B. Du Bois

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1868-02-23 （Great Barrington, Massachusetts, United States）
Died
1963-08-27 （Accra, Ghana） age 95
Nationality
United States, Ghana
Languages
English
Religion
Agnostic / freethinker
Residence History
Great Barrington, Massachusetts (birth and childhood) → Nashville (Fisk University, student) → Cambridge/Boston area (Harvard University, student/research) → Atlanta (Atlanta University, professor) → New York (NAACP, editorial and writing work) → Ghana (residence in Accra in later years)

Career

Occupations
sociologist, writer, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, editor
Active Years
1890-1963
Affiliations
Atlanta University, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), Fisk University (honorary associations)
Influenced By
Alexander Crummell, William James, German social scientists (e.g., Gustav von Schmoller)
Influenced
Generations of NAACP leaders and civil-rights activists, Kwame Nkrumah, Malcolm X (influenced by some of Du Bois's writings), Modern generations of African American scholars and activists

Education

Fisk University
Undergraduate / Bachelor of Arts
Degree: BA
Period: 1885–1888
Year of Graduation: 1888
Country: United States
Historically Black College (HBCU). Supported studies with summer teaching and other work.
Harvard University
History / Sociology (graduate)
Degree: AB, PhD
Period: 1888–1895 (学士: 1890、博士: 1895)
Year of Graduation: 1895
Country: United States
Earned Ph.D. in history (1895). One of the first African Americans to earn a doctorate at Harvard.
Friedrich Wilhelm University (Humboldt University of Berlin)
Graduate study in social sciences
Period: 1892–1894（研究滞在）
Country: Germany
Studied in Germany on fellowship; worked with prominent German social scientists. Did not take a degree there.

Awards

Spingarn Medal
1920
Organization: NAACP
Result: 受賞
Lenin Peace Prize
1959
Organization: Soviet Union (awarding organization)
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Souls of Black Folk

1903 Essays / Social criticism 240 pages

A collection of 14 essays introducing key concepts such as the "color line" and "double consciousness," examining African-American experience and racial injustice in literary and sociological terms.

race and the color linedouble consciousnesseducation and leadershipcultural pride
Translations
  • The Souls of Black Folk (Japanese translation)

Black Reconstruction in America

1935 History / Scholarly work 700 pages

A major revisionist study of Reconstruction that reassesses Black contributions and challenges the dominant white-centered historiography, arguing for the democratic accomplishments of Black citizenship and public education.

revisionist interpretation of ReconstructionBlack citizenshippropaganda and history
Translations
  • Black Reconstruction in America (Japanese translation)

The Philadelphia Negro

1899 Sociological study / Case study 450 pages

One of the earliest scientific sociological studies of an African-American community in Philadelphia using maps and statistics to analyze race and class dynamics in the city.

urban sociologyrace and social structuredata-driven social research

Bibliography

  • The Study of the Negro Problems (1898)
  • The Philadelphia Negro (1899)
  • The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
  • John Brown (1909)
  • The Gift of Black Folk (1924)
  • Black Reconstruction in America (1935)
  • Dusk of Dawn (1940)
  • Darkwater (1920)
  • In Battle for Peace (1952)

Adaptations

  • Portrayed as a character in the TV miniseries 'Self Made' (2020)

Translations of Works

  • The Souls of Black Folk — Japanese translation
  • Black Reconstruction in America — Japanese translation

Style & Themes

Literary Style
essayistic and polemicalscholarly and empirical prosepolitical and argumentative tone
Recurring Motifs
the color linedouble consciousnessracial upliftthe talented tenth / leadership through education

Health

  • Age-related decline / frailty
    1962–1963
    Health declined in his final years; activities and writing were limited and he died while residing in Ghana.

Legacy

Du Bois was a seminal thinker and activist who shaped American sociology, African-American literature, and civil-rights discourse. Through works such as The Souls of Black Folk and Black Reconstruction in America he influenced debates on race, Pan-Africanism, and international human-rights activism.

Museums

  • W. E. B. Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan African Culture Accra, Ghana Opened in 1985
  • W. E. B. Du Bois Library (UMass Amherst archives) Amherst, Massachusetts, United States Opened in 1994

Academic Societies

  • American Sociological Association (W.E.B. Du Bois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award)
  • Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Harvard University (W. E. B. Du Bois Medal)

Archives

  • W. E. B. Du Bois Papers (University of Massachusetts Amherst Special Collections)
  • Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library (Yale University collection)

In Popular Culture

  • Portrayal as a character in the TV miniseries 'Self Made' (2020)
  • Frequent subject of books and documentaries on scholarship and the civil-rights movement

Quotes

  • “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line.”
    Source: Introduction to The Souls of Black Folk (1903) (1903)
  • “One ever feels his two-ness, — an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings…”
    Source: "Strivings of the Negro People" (1897) (1897)

Trivia

  • One of the first African Americans to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard (1895).
  • Insisted on the particular pronunciation of his surname ('Due-Boyss').
  • Took up residence and citizenship in Ghana late in life but never formally renounced U.S. citizenship.
  • Edited the NAACP journal The Crisis (1910–1933), greatly expanding its influence.
  • Joined the Communist Party in 1961 near the end of his life.