Du Bois was born in the western Massachusetts town of Great Barrington. His family roots were French Huguenot on his father's side and Dutch and African on his mother's side. His father, Alfred Du Bois, left his family when W.E.B. was a young boy. W.E.B. lived with his mother Sylvina until her death in 1884. This same year, Du Bois graduated from high school as the valedictorian and only black in his graduating class of twelve. He was awarded a scholarship to attend Fisk University in

Personally, I find Du Bois's views truly remarkable. After completing this paper, I have concluded that he was a definite founding father of the Civil Rights Movement. Evidently, his views for the betterment of the black community proved to be more beneficial than those of Booker T. Washington, who preached more moderate reforms. His work was basically mimicked by the work of Martin Luther King Jr., who considered Du Bois a mentor. His influence in the black community was often inconspicuous compared to Washington, but I find Du Bois's contributions to be much more sufficient, especially during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, which acted out what he preached more than half a century before.

Du Bois believed in the higher education of a "Talented Tenth" who through their knowledge of modern culture could guide the American Negro into a higher civilization. Du Bois feared that Washington's educational model was becoming the only option open to black students. Du Bois felt that Washington's plan would cause blacks to give up political power, insistence on civil rights, and higher education of Negro youth. While Du Bois respected Washington and his accomplishments, he felt that blacks needed political power to protect what they had worked for.

Black Folk exposed the magnitude of racism in our society. Black Folk is a collection of 14 essays which records the cruelties of racism, celebrates the strength and pride of black America, and explores the paradoxical "double consciousness" of African-American life. Du Bois made this famous statement concerning this "double consciousness" on the black identity:

249-73. Discovering Authors. Gale Group, 1999. Reproduced in

"W. E. B. Du Bois." EXPLORING Poetry. Gale Research, 1998.

Black Reconstruction is a Marxist interpretation of the post Civil War era in the South. According to Aptheker("The Historian"), it contains four main themes:

Discovering Collection. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale Group.

Group, 1999. Reproduced in Discovering Collection. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale Group. December, 2000. http://www.galenet.com/servlet/DC/

1. The American Negro not only was the cause of the Civil War but a prime factor in enabling the North to win it.

Washington, Booker T. Chapter XIV. The Atlanta Exposition

Address. The Norton Anthology Shorter Fifth Edition. Edited by Nina Baym. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1999.

Profile, edited by Rayford W. Logan, Hill & Wang, 1971, pp.

Both men also had their differences in their views of education. Washington argued that Black people should temporarily forego political power, insistence on civil rights, and higher education of Negro youth. They should concentrate all their energies on industrial education. Washington wanted blacks to try and get along in society. He encouraged blacks to become educated and to work in agriculture and industry, to accept their second class status in American society.

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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)