Pan African Studies Encyclopedia

W.E.B. Du Bois was born on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. His upbringing profoundly shaped his understanding of race relations in America, particularly concerning the experiences and struggles of African Americans. Growing up during the Jim Crow era of the 1870s through the 1960s, he witnessed firsthand the complexities of cultural identity, systematic inequality, and the resilience of the African American community (Dr. Wade Presentation, Week 9).

Du Bois was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University, achieving this significant milestone in 1895. His groundbreaking dissertation focused on African Americans’ social and economic conditions in the United States, marking him as a leading figure in the study of race and sociology. Du Bois’s academic accomplishments and insights laid the foundation for future scholarship and civil rights advocacy, making him a pivotal figure in American History. Moreover, W.E.B. Du Bois is hailed as the seminal figure and intellectual architect of Pan-Africanism, a movement that seeks to unify and uplift people of African descent worldwide. His pioneering ideas and passionate advocacy laid the groundwork for future generations to engage in the struggle for equality, justice, and cultural pride. In advocating for social change, he firmly believed African Americans should be granted full civil rights, ensuring equality and justice under the law.

Later, he moved to Ghana, Africa, to embark on the noble pursuit of “a new encyclopedia on the African diaspora, funded by the government of Ghana.” He embraced his identity as a citizen of Africa in 1961, and two years later, he laid to rest his physical body in Ghana on August 27, 1963, just a day before the momentous March on Washington, leaving a legacy (NAACP, W.E.B. Du Bois).