This week we celebrate the legacy of W.E. B. Du Bois. Scholar and activist, W.E.B. Du Bois was born on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1895, he became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University. Du Bois wrote extensively and was the best known spokesperson for African-American rights during the first half of the 20th century. In his most recognized book, The Souls of Black Folk, he addresses the "double consciousness" that confronted African-Americans needing to be able to coexist in two different worlds, being American and black. He was also the primary opponent to Booker T. Washington's accommodationist theory, advocating that African-Americans actively pursue equal rights and civil liberties. A recipient of the World Peace Council Prize (1952) and the Soviet Lenin Peace Prize (1959), Du Bois became a member of the Communist party in 1961 and a citizen of Ghana, where he served as director of the Encyclopedia Africana. Du Bois died in Ghana in 1963.

Submitted by Bianca Brade