This biography, published in 1993, concerns the life of William Edward Burghardt Du Bois from his birth in 1868 through the year 1919 with just a foreshadowing of his death in 1963. The book also serves as a valuable history lesson, explaining how many contemporary social movements came to be.
W.E.B. Du Bois's father, Alfred, abandons his mother when Willie (as he was called for short) is about three years old. His mother, Mary, raises him in Great Barrington MA, a mid-sized town where many free African American farming families mix with Whites.
A promising student, Du Bois flies through his primary school studies while living with his handicapped mother in very disadvantaged conditions. A helpful high school principal encourages him to try to get into college and others in the community help him buy books for a.....
