Life Path Of W.E.B. Dubois - Free Essay Example

W.e.b Dubois Research paper Being famous for standing up for your culture and your rights as a black folk is the most powerful thing a African American can do. The foremost black leader during the first half of the twentieth century, William Edward Burghardt Dubois, also known as W.e.b Dubois. He was influential in African American Literature and one of Americas classics. He was an American civil rights activist, sociologist, and writer who is famous for being the foremost black leader opposing racism and fighting the civil rights of African Americans. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, he was the   son of Alfred DuBois and Mary Silvina Burghardt; Dubois was raised in a small, predominantly white town. When he was two his father deserted the family and despite their financialdifficulties, he succeeded in school. As an adolescent Dubois realized his calling when a white girl refused a visiting card from him because he was an African American.   In 1884, Dubois graduated from high school as valedictorian of his class. He went on to Fisk University in Nashville, TN where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1888. Later that year Dubois entered Harvard University. In 1895, he completed his doctoral degree making him the first African American to receive a Ph.D. His essay written as a requirement for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America, 1638-1870, was published as No. 1 in the Harvard Historical Series. Dubois began his professional career in 1896, accepting an offer from the University of   Pennsylvania to write a study on African American in the Philadelphia population. This resulted   in the publication of The Philadelphia Negro, but after being refused a job at the university because of his race, Dubois accepted a position at the Atlantic University in 1897. Over the next few years the school published over sixteen studies covering a number of aspects of sociology in   African Americans. First contribution that W.e.b dubois made was being a civil rights activist.   In an article written by W.E.B. Du Bois he said, The sincere and passionate belief that somewhere between men and cattle God created a tertium quid, and called it a negro (Du Bois). In the late 19th and 20th centuries a strong push for economic and social progress for African-Americans was being made. The prominent leaders of this movement amongst the Black community were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois, however, they had very differing views on how to achieve this goal (PBS.org). Washington and Du Bois essentially split the Black community into two parties, radical and conservative. Du Bois, the radical, preached for a strong political and civil rights agenda, and uplift for Blacks through education. Washington pushed for Blacks to accept their racial discrimination until they had proven themselves through hard work and self help (PBS.org). That is why Du Bois push for higher education and political action were the means to equal citizenship for Blacks in a White supremacist America.