Bellringer Extra Credit

W.E.B. DuBois was born on February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. DuBois said, He was African American, French, Dutch and Native American and he considered himself to be African American. He considered himself African American because he wanted to be called African American and he felt that whites were unfair to blacks. He grew up during the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War. DuBois was naturally gifted in school and he had a pride for getting past his fellow students in academics. His father was a former Civil War soldier and he left his family when DuBois was a kid. His father then went to Connecticut to build a life for DuBois and his mother. DuBois was a sociologist, historian, writer, editor, political activist, and co-founder of the NAACP. When DuBois was growing up, he did not have enough money to go to Harvard University, but he then received a scholarship to Fish College in Tennessee. DuBois then completed his masters’ degree at Harvard University in the spring of 1891. He became the first black person in American history to receive a doctorate degree.