W.E.B. Du Bois

Born: 1868 in Massachusetts (W.E.B. = William Edward Burghardt)

Died: 1963

Was first African American to earn a Ph.D from Harvard.

Co-founded National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Rose to prominence due to his public opposition to Booker T. Washington’s “Atlanta Compromise.”

He published a collection of 14 essays in 1903, The Souls of Black Folk. Also strong supporter of women’s rights.

Died day before MLK gave his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.

Said: “The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.”