W.E.B. Du Bois & NAACP

William Edward Burhardt du Bois (23rd February 1868 - 27th August 1963) was an African-American (A-A) sociologist, socialist, historian, civil rights activist, author, writer and editor.

He graduated from Berlin University. He was the first A-A to earn a doctorate at Harvard University. He was a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University.

He was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and editor of its official magazine The Crisis.

He rose to national prominence as the leader of the Niagara Movement - a group A-A activists that wanted equal rights for blacks. NAACP was founded on 12th February 1909 ( the 100th anniversary of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln who emancipated enslaved A-A)) by a group of A-As in response to the Springfield race Riots of Illinois in 1908 which highlighted the injustices that the black community were subjected to.

On May 30th the conference of the Niagara Movement was held at New York’s Settlement House, De Bois helped organize the event and presided over the proceedings. They decided the purpose of the organization was
To ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.
The members chose the name NAACP and elected their first officers. De Bois was elected Director of Publicity and Research.
In 2007 NAACP had approximately 425,000 paying and non-paying members

In his role as editor of The Crisis a record of darker days - he published many influential pieces.
I determine to make the opinion of the ‘Crisis’ a personal opinion.

It was used for both news reporting and publishing A-A poetry and literature. In the campaign against lynching he encouraged the writing and performing of plays.
The Crisis has been in continuous print since 1910. It is the oldest Black oriented magazine in the world. By 1918 it had over 100, 000 readers. It is a quarterly journal of civil rights, history, politic and culture and seeks to educate and challenge its readers about issues that continue to plague A-A and other colored communities ( See ‘The Crisis’ for 2 early covers)

His cause included people of color, especially Africans and Asians.

He believed that capitalism was a primary cause of racism, and he was generally sympathetic to socialist causes throughout his life.

W.E.B. Du Bois, died, aged 95, in Accra, Ghana on 27th August 1963.

The United States’ Civil Rights Act (1964) embodied many of the reforms for which he had campaigned his whole life, was enacted a year after his death.

Wikipedia