W. E. B. Du Bois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( dew-BOYSS; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community. After completing graduate work at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin and Harvard University, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate. Du Bois rose to national prominence as a leader of the Niagara Movement, a group of black civil rights activists who wanted equal rights for blacks. Du Bois and his supporters opposed the Atlanta Compromise.