Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community, and after completing graduate work at the University of Berlin and Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate, he became a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( / dj uː ˈ b ɔɪ s/ dew- BOYSS Febru– August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist.
