W.E.B. DuBois was born on February 23rd, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. His birthname was William Edward Burghardt. His mother was part of a Free Black community in Great Barrington, and his father was a Haitian immigrant who fought in the Civil War. DuBois’s father left him and his mother shortly after he was born.
DuBois had sizable support from his mother and his community. He attended integrated public schools and excelled. His community raised money to send him to Fisk University, a historically Black college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was in college that DuBois first experienced Jim Crow laws and became radicalized because of his shocking experiences with overt racism....
