William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was created on February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington Massachusetts, to Alfred Du Bois and Mary Silvina Burghardt. His father deserted him and his mother when he was 2 yrs old and grew up solely by his mother. He was created into a racially mixed town and his family was apart of the free black population which could own land. So he was never fully subjected to what live was like growing up with the Jim Crow Laws and being separated. Then attends Great Barrington SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL and help his mom works as a correspondent for NY Age, the New York Globe, and the Springfield Republican. He graduated top of his class and wins a scholarship to a predominately black university called Fisk University. Next he gets a summer job teaching in school districts of Rural Tennessee which exposes him to the reality of the Jim Crow Laws and it sparks his desire for civil rights.
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