William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, mostly known as W.E.B.

Du Bois, was born on

February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. His mother and father, Alfred and Mary
Silvina Du Bois, were apart of a small population of freed black people in his town. His mother’s
side of the family had been long time freed people. Because of his great great grandfather, tom
Burghardt, who fought in the American revolutionary war which is why they are believed to
have earned their freedom. West African descent. Williams family are also longtime landowners,
so they are pretty safe and respected in the community.
He had not experienced much racism in his life. During the 1870s in the gilded age, when
he was growing up, black people had just been freed a couple years before (1865 by 13th
amendment.) Compared to south, the north did not have mush experience with slavery. There
were not many farms up north. There were mostly industrial jobs that European, Asian, Spanish
Immigrants worked. Blacks also worked these jobs, but it is not as relevant to talk about. There
was still segregation and discrimination going on, but the south was way nastier when they
committed hate crimes. And there were more liberties for black people up north.
William Du Bois attended an integrated public school growing up. It was said that he had
many friends and no problems with racism in the school. He played nicely with all the other kids
and the teachers also respected him. In the article, (find one), it says how the teachers loved him
and the noticed a great potential in him. The pushed Du Bois academically and gave him many
opportunities to succeed. He loved school, the article says it made him feel good and he would
like to an inspiration to many other black people in the future. Though it was still very difficult
for him to attend school since his family was pretty poor. America was not kind black people so
his parents were not able to be paid enough to help him study, so they got help from many
programs and local people in his neighborhood so he could attend school. (Add somewhere that
his father left him and his mother when he was two, and his mother worked very hard to feed her
family. She moved in with her parents and received help from her brother to be able to feed her
son. She died in 1885 after suffering from a stroke. (Later in the biography, mention how he felt
bad for himself for not having a father. He felt like he was playing into the stereotype of not
having a father.)
Years after his mother died, he pushed himself into his studies. Being recognized for his
intellectual capabilities was a good feeling for him. He had the respect of his community, and he
wanted not to disappoint them, so his school awarded him with many minor awards to boost his
confidence and it worked. He graduated from his Searles High School in his hometown (find
date). After he had graduated at the top of his class, he decided that he wanted to attend college.
When his church found out about the news, the asked the people of the church to help raise
money so he could pay for his tuition. With the money they were able to raise, he decided on
attending Fisk University in Nashville Tennessee. After his studying for two years, Du Bois
wanted to get a job like all the other people at his university (Find a way to mention that Fisk
was a historically black college.) During the summers, he would teach at schools and for one
summer he had to go down south and teach at a school. While he was travelling down south, he
noticed how different the culture was. He did not teach at an integrated school instead; he
thought about eight black children in a small black shed with desks made of scrap wood and
chairs that were borrowed from a white woman and had to be returned at the end of the day.
Living in the south was also his first he encountered Jim Crow laws. He did not have these same
rules up north. He took notice of how many dirt-poor black people there were living in small
wood huts. He grew fond of these communities. And there were the various hate crimes and
lynchings which were at a high while he was there. The entire south was a big culture shock for
him. This experience was one of many that would later make him become a strong voice for civil
rights in the south. (Add in somewhere that the Fisk community and surrounding areas were not
subject to racist laws. Since it was a historically black college and community, it was safe for
him to live and study there. It was not until he went further south that he noticed the culture
shock. He was naïve before he arrived. He was also pretty popular at his school, and he was
already outperforming most of the other students.)
After finishing wrapping up his education at Fisk, he received a bachelor's degree, and he
graduated top of his class, he wanted to further his education. Long before he applied for Fisk,
his dream school was Harvard University. With the $25 his church congressional gave him each
year, it would not have been enough to pay for Harvard. But now he was a college graduate, and
he was able to earn a little more for himself to pay for Harvard. After countless summer jobs and
loans, he was able to attend three years at Harvard. And in 1890, he was second bachelor’s
degree in history. Soon after he received a scholarship to attend the sociology graduate school at
Harvard. This is where his passions for social sciences began.
A couple years after he graduated from Harvard and was given the opportunity to study
abroad in Berlin, Germany. During his time there, he studied with many great social scientists.
Max Weber being one of them. Du Bois left an impression on Weber and weber also used Du
Bois as an example in his research to disprove racists theories on the inferiority of black people.