W. E. B. Du Bois

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868–1963) was a foundational figure in American sociology and the struggle for racial equality. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, he became the first African American to earn a PhD from Harvard University. His seminal work, The Souls of Black Folk (1903), introduced the concept of “double consciousness” and remains a cornerstone of African American literature and social thought. A co-founder of the NAACP, Du Bois edited its magazine The Crisis for decades, advocating for political and educational advancement. His later works, including Black Reconstruction in America (1935), redefined historical scholarship on the Civil War and Reconstruction. Du Bois’s literary legacy lies in his fusion of rigorous analysis, lyrical prose, and moral urgency, influencing generations of writers and activists. He died in Ghana in 1963 at age 95.