W.E.B. Dubois was born on February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He was an excellent student and by the time he entered high school, he started to be concerned with the development of his race. And so he became a correspondent for his local newspaper, The New York Globe. He felt it was his duty to push his race forward with lectures and editorials that talked about the needs of Africans Americans to politicize themselves. He characterized as being very competitive and ever since high school, he wanted to attend Harvard University. Even though he had the drive and intellect, his family couldn't afford the cost of tuition. So intend, Dubois attended Fisk University on a full scholarship. This college however was located in Tennessee, which is in the south. And for the first time, Dubois witnessed full-blown discrimination against his people. After graduating from Fisk, Dubois received a scholarship to Harvard.
English: Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.
DuBois, Pennsylvania
W. E. B. Du Bois (1868 – 1963), co-founder of th...While he was there he studied philosophy, history, economics, but mainly focused on sociology. Dubois became the first African American to receive a PhD from Harvard. After college, he took up jobs teaching at different universities. At UPenn he conducted a research project on a poor African American community in Philadelphia. He began his investigations believing that social science could provide answers to race problems. Gradually he concluded that in an environment of strong racism, social change could only be accomplished by agitation and protest. So by 1910 he founded the NAACP, which stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. This group was created so that the African American population would be heard and to make sure their civil liberties are defended.