W.E.B. DuBois: A Biography
Ellen Yu
1William Edward Burghardt DuBois was an industrious civil rights activist, political leader, writer, and educator who led a vigorous fight against racism during the heart of the American struggle over civil rights. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called DuBois a “tireless explorer and a gifted discoverer of social truth.”
2Born in 1868 in Massachusetts, DuBois was raised in a largely white area. His father left his family while DuBois was still young. DuBois helped sustain his family by accepting jobs from white people. He attracted the approval of his white neighbors because of his drive to get a good education. While growing up, he rarely felt segregated because of his skin color. This was not a common story for a Black child, since most African Americans of his time were isolated from the white population.
3DuBois became a student at Fisk University. After he graduated, DuBois went to the distinguished Harvard University to further his education. The school gave him the opportunity to study in Europe. He was able to travel across the continent and visit some of the top minds of his field. He was so steadfast in his studies that he became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard. After school, DuBois taught and worked for many political and civil causes. He then moved to Georgia to start the first sociology department at Atlanta University.
4In Atlanta, DuBois became a pioneer for the civil rights of African Americans. He wrote several books and organized many events to demonstrate against the segregation between whites and Blacks. Unlike Booker T. Washington—another activist who championed racial equality—DuBois believed in higher education and culture for African Americans. In 1909, he helped organize the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a group that encourages all races of people to support the civil rights of African Americans. DuBois worked as the publication director. For many years, he wrote a column for the main publication of the NAACP. His articles discussed the everyday struggles of African Americans and proposed nonviolent solutions to these problems.
6Until he left the United States in 1961, DuBois continued to work toward a higher path for Black people. He ran for the Senate in 1950 on the American Labor Party ticket, but he lost the election. In his later life, DuBois was invited to Ghana, Africa, to work on the Encyclopedia Africana. DuBois and his wife seized the opportunity and moved to Ghana. DuBois passed away in 1963 while living in Ghana, just one day before Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.
7Even though DuBois didn’t see the end of segregation, he will always be known for the work he did for African Americans. He wrote over twenty books and countless articles about slavery and racism. Books such as The Philadelphia Negro and Black Reconstruction confronted the conditions of housing, social instability, and other economic problems of Black people. He wrote poetry and literary criticism and was one of the first editors to publish the work of Harlem Renaissance writers. Because of his work in the state, he was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2000.
Question
In paragraph 1, the word industrious means
Responses
A clever.clever.
B hard-working.hard-working.
C old-fashioned.old-fashioned.
D precise.