Harvard sociology conference to give W.E.B. Du Bois his due
Although best known for his landmark 1903 book “The Souls of Black Folk,” W.E.B. Du Bois was far more than an eloquent essayist and chronicler of African-American life. Born in 1868 in Western Massachusetts, Du Bois lived through a remarkable sweep of African-American history, from five years after the Emancipation Proclamation declared slavery over to the eve of the March on Washington. A revolutionary thinker far ahead of his time, Du Bois blazed trails as a civil rights activist, visionary scholar, scientist, historian, educator, editor, and outspoken public intellectual. His pioneering research and theories, his prolific writing about black and white social dynamics and racial identity, his deep understanding of U.S. history, global politics, and political movements, along with public education, art, and literature, make Du Bois one of America’s intellectual giants. His ties to Harvard are deep and complicated. Lacking the means to afford Harvard College, Du Bois went to all-black Fisk...