William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born February 23, 1868 to Mary Burghardt and Alfred Du Bois. Soon after W. E. B. Du Bois" birth his father departed and never returned. W. E. B. Du Bois was raised in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Being the first Black to graduate from Great Barrington High School, Du Bois graduated Valedictorian in 1884. Later on Du Bois graduated from Fisk University in 1888. Du Bois really wanted a Bachelor of Arts degree from the prestigious Harvard University and achieved this goal in 1890 graduating Cum Laude. Du Bois also went on to receive a Master of Arts degree from Harvard in 1891. Du Bois studied two years at Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin, Germany in 1892 and completed his studies in 1896 receiving a doctorate from Harvard University. .
In 1896 Du Bois married Nina Gomer and a year later his son Burghardt was born. After accepting a position at Atlanta University in 1897, three years later Du Bois" son, Burghardt, died of sewage pollution from the Atlanta City water supply. Founder and editor of the small newspapers The Moon, The Horizon, The Crisis, and The Phylon during the 1900's, Du Bois was always sure to make his observations on the state of the Negro in America heard. Also, in the 1900's his daughter, Yolande, was born. What was marked as the height of the 1900's in Du Bois" fight for the rights and equality for the Negro in Americas was his helping to found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In 1910 Du Bois became the NAACP's director of publicity and research and was awarded the NAACP's Spingran Medal in 1920. In 1948 Du Bois resigned from the NAACP and becomes chairman of the Council on African Affairs. In 1950 Du Bois" wife, Nina, dies and in 1951 he remarries to Shirley Graham. Also, in 1950 Du Bois runs for a seat in the U.S. Senate and looses. Because of Du Bois" continual push for equality for the American Negro and his travel to Communist countries, Du Bois is eventually indicted on charges of "failure to register as a gent of foreign principal" in 1951, but is later acquitted.