William Edward Burghardt Du Bois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868–1963) was an American sociologist, historian, and public intellectual whose work fundamentally reshaped how philosophy understands race, democracy, and modernity. Trained at Harvard and in Berlin, Du Bois combined empirical social science with moral and political critique, insisting that the “color line” was the central problem of the twentieth century. His concept of double consciousness—an internalized conflict between self-perception and the gaze of a racist society—provided an enduring phenomenology of racialized subjectivity, taken up by existentialists, phenomenologists, and contemporary critical race theorists. Du Bois’s methodological innovations in The Philadelphia Negro and his revisionist account of U.S. history in Black Reconstruction developed an early critical philosophy of social science and history, challenging biological racism and positivist neutrality. As a founder of the NAACP, leading Pan-Africanist, and later Marxist, he theorized democracy and emancipation as global, interlinked struggles against capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy. His synthesis of data-driven sociology, narrative, and normative argument made him a key source for later work in decolonial thought, Africana philosophy, feminist theory, and theories of recognition, identity, and structural injustice.
At a Glance
- Field
- Thinker
- Born
- 1868-02-23 — Great Barrington, Massachusetts, United States
- Died
- 1963-08-27 — Accra, GhanaCause: Natural causes (related to heart disease in advanced age)
- Active In
- United States, Europe, West Africa
- Interests
- Race and racializationDemocracy and citizenshipSociology of knowledgeBlack subjectivity and identityEmpire and colonialismCapitalism and classPan-Africanism and global color lineHistorical memory
Racial domination is not a natural or merely psychological phenomenon but a historically produced, globally organized social structure—the ‘color line’—that shapes consciousness, knowledge, and democracy; overcoming it requires a scientifically informed, normatively guided struggle in which those most oppressed become central agents and knowers of social transformation.
The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study
Composed: 1896–1899
The Souls of Black Folk
Composed: 1901–1903
Black Reconstruction in America, 1860–1880
Composed: 1931–1935
Dusk of Dawn: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept
Composed: 1939–1940
The Conservation of Races
Composed: 1896–1897
The Gift of Black Folk: The Negroes in the Making of America
Composed: 1914–1924
The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line.— The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Forethought
Du Bois frames his entire project as an analysis of how racial division structures modern society, signaling his view that race is central rather than peripheral to social and political philosophy.
It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others.— The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Chapter 1: “Of Our Spiritual Strivings”
He introduces the idea of double consciousness to capture the fractured self-awareness of Black Americans living under white supremacy, a concept that became a touchstone for later phenomenology of race and identity theory.
The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.— The Crisis, Vol. 20, No. 3 (July 1920)
Written in his role as editor of The Crisis, this line condenses Du Bois’s normative commitment to democracy and freedom against authoritarian and racist repression at home and abroad.
Black folk were not simply the recipients of emancipation; they were active participants in the making of democracy in America.— Paraphrasing the central thesis of Black Reconstruction in America (1935), especially Chapter 1 and Chapter 17
Across Black Reconstruction, Du Bois argues that formerly enslaved people played an indispensable, agentic role in the remaking of U.S. democracy, challenging dominant historiography and grounding a new philosophy of history.
Either the United States will destroy ignorance, or ignorance will destroy the United States.— The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Chapter 9: “Of the Sons of Master and Man”
This statement links Du Bois’s educational and epistemic concerns to the fate of democracy, anticipating later work on the epistemic conditions of just political orders.
Formative and Educational Years (1868–1895)
Growing up in a small New England town, Du Bois experienced relative educational opportunity alongside pervasive racism. Studies at Fisk University exposed him directly to the post-Reconstruction South, while graduate work at Harvard and the University of Berlin introduced him to German historicism, social statistics, and early sociology, shaping his conviction that rigorous social science must serve ethical and political ends.
Empirical Sociology and Early Race Theory (1895–1910)
As a researcher and professor at Atlanta University, Du Bois conducted detailed empirical studies of Black communities, culminating in The Philadelphia Negro. He developed a structural account of race as a socio-historical formation rather than a biological fact and articulated the ideas of the color line and double consciousness in The Souls of Black Folk, blending sociology, history, and literary-philosophical reflection.
Public Intellectual and Pan-African Organizer (1910–1930)
Working with the NAACP and editing The Crisis, Du Bois became a leading voice on race, democracy, and imperialism. He fused advocacy with analysis, theorizing propaganda, public opinion, and the moral responsibilities of elites (including the controversial ‘Talented Tenth’) and extending his focus from the U.S. South to a global color line linking colonial and domestic racial domination.
Marxian Turn and Philosophy of History (1930–1945)
During the Great Depression and its aftermath, Du Bois increasingly interpreted racial oppression through a Marxian lens. In Black Reconstruction he advanced a class-conscious, labor-centered narrative of U.S. history, arguing that Black workers were central agents in democratic transformation. This period deepened his critique of liberalism, capitalism, and conventional historiography.
Global, Pan-African, and Late Marxist Phase (1945–1963)
After World War II, Du Bois’s thought became explicitly global and anti-imperialist. He played a major role in Pan-African Congresses, criticized nuclear militarism, and moved toward an open commitment to socialism and communism. His relocation to Ghana embodied his conviction that Black emancipation required transnational solidarity and structural transformation beyond the U.S. nation-state.
1. Introduction
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868–1963) was an American sociologist, historian, and public intellectual whose work has become central to modern discussions of race, democracy, and knowledge. Writing across the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he combined empirical social research with philosophical reflection to argue that the “color line”—the global system of racial division—was the defining problem of modernity.
Du Bois is widely associated with the concept of double consciousness, an account of how racial subordination shapes selfhood by forcing Black subjects to see themselves both through their own eyes and through those of a prejudiced society. This idea, first elaborated in The Souls of Black Folk (1903), has been taken up in phenomenology, existentialism, and contemporary critical race theory.
His major works, including The Philadelphia Negro (1899) and Black Reconstruction in America (1935), challenged biological conceptions of race and revisionist narratives of U.S. history. Du Bois developed an early social-constructionist view of race and a distinctive philosophy of history that centers the agency of enslaved and formerly enslaved people.
As a co‑founder of the NAACP, editor of The Crisis, Pan-African organizer, and later Marxist, Du Bois treated scholarship and political activism as mutually reinforcing. Proponents of his approach highlight its integration of data, narrative, and normative critique; critics sometimes question his views on elites and his later commitments to communism. Across these debates, Du Bois is now broadly recognized as a foundational figure for Africana philosophy, critical theory, and the study of race as a social structure.
2. Life and Historical Context
Du Bois’s life spanned Reconstruction, Jim Crow, world wars, decolonization, and the early civil rights era, situating his thought within sweeping transformations of race and empire.
Early Life and Education
Born in 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a small New England town with relatively integrated public schooling but clear racial stratification. Historians often link these formative experiences of partial inclusion and subtle exclusion to his later account of double consciousness. After attending Fisk University in Nashville—where he encountered the post‑Reconstruction South firsthand—he studied at Harvard and the University of Berlin, absorbing German historicism, statistics, and early sociology.
Jim Crow, Progressive Era, and World Conflict
Du Bois’s early academic career in the 1890s and 1900s unfolded amid the consolidation of Jim Crow segregation, the disfranchisement of Black voters, and widespread racial violence. Scholars argue that his insistence on rigorous social science was partly a response to scientific racism and to the need for empirical refutation of racial myths.
The Progressive Era reforms, World War I, and the Red Scare provided the backdrop for his work with the NAACP and The Crisis. Du Bois linked U.S. racial injustice to global imperial competition, especially as Black soldiers returned from war demanding democracy at home.
Depression, Cold War, and Decolonization
The Great Depression and New Deal era framed his Marxian turn and his reinterpretation of Reconstruction as a struggle over labor and democracy. During the Cold War, Du Bois’s criticism of nuclear arms and colonialism brought him under surveillance and prosecution, influencing his eventual decision to join the Communist Party USA and move to Ghana.
His final years in newly independent Ghana connected his long‑standing Pan-African commitments to concrete decolonization struggles, illustrating how his life trajectory tracked the shift from national civil rights battles to global anti‑imperial politics.
| Period | Historical Context | Du Bois’s Location/Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1868–1895 | Post‑Civil War, Reconstruction’s collapse | Student and early scholar in North and South |
| 1895–1915 | Jim Crow consolidation, Progressive reforms | Atlanta University; early sociological studies |
| 1915–1935 | WWI, interwar period, Harlem Renaissance | NAACP leader, The Crisis editor, Pan-African congresses |
| 1935–1945 | Depression, WWII | Marxian reinterpretation of U.S. history |
| 1945–1963 | Cold War, decolonization | Global activist; relocation to Ghana |
3. Intellectual Development
Du Bois’s intellectual trajectory is often described in phases that correspond to shifting emphases in method, theory of race, and political alignment.
Formative and Educational Years (1868–1895)
In this period Du Bois moved from Great Barrington to Fisk, Harvard, and Berlin. Scholars emphasize the influence of German social science—especially statistics, historical economics, and state-centered social reform—on his conviction that social inquiry should be both empirical and normative. His Harvard dissertation on the slave trade signaled an early interest in race as a global historical process rather than a purely national issue.
Empirical Sociology and Early Race Theory (1895–1910)
Working at Atlanta University, Du Bois conducted detailed studies of Black communities, culminating in The Philadelphia Negro. Here he treated race as a social and environmental phenomenon rather than a biological essence. In essays like “The Conservation of Races” and in The Souls of Black Folk, he experimented with defining race as a “group of human beings” bound by common history and “strivings,” an approach later read as a precursor to social-constructionist and cultural accounts of race.
Public Intellectual and Pan-African Organizer (1910–1930)
As a co‑founder of the NAACP and editor of The Crisis, Du Bois’s focus shifted toward propaganda, public opinion, and leadership. He articulated the idea of the Talented Tenth and developed his early Pan-African outlook, framing the color line as a global system linking colonialism abroad and segregation at home.
Marxian Turn and Late Global Phase (1930–1963)
From the Depression onward, Du Bois increasingly incorporated Marxian categories of class, labor, and capital. Black Reconstruction presented Reconstruction as a labor struggle in which Black workers were central agents. After WWII, this perspective was extended to a world scale: Du Bois analyzed imperialism, nuclear politics, and decolonization as interlocking aspects of the global color line, eventually embracing explicit socialism and, late in life, communism. Commentators debate whether these shifts mark radical breaks or a continuous deepening of themes present from his earliest work.
4. Major Works
Du Bois’s major writings span sociology, history, autobiography, and political reflection. Scholars often group them by genre and thematic focus.
Key Scholarly Monographs
| Work | Date | Focus | Typical Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Philadelphia Negro | 1899 | Empirical study of Black urban life | Foundational text in U.S. sociology; early structural analysis of race |
| The Souls of Black Folk | 1903 | Essays on race, culture, and psychology | Classic statement of double consciousness and the color line |
| Black Reconstruction in America, 1860–1880 | 1935 | Revisionist history of Civil War and Reconstruction | Landmark in labor-centered, race-conscious historiography |
| Dusk of Dawn | 1940 | “Autobiography of a race concept” | Hybrid of memoir and theory tracing the evolution of Du Bois’s race thinking |
Programmatic and Movement-Oriented Texts
The Conservation of Races (1897) sets out an early account of race as a historical and spiritual group, arguing for the preservation of distinct racial contributions to civilization. The Gift of Black Folk (1924) surveys African American contributions to U.S. development, contesting narratives that minimized Black agency.
Du Bois’s extensive editorials in The Crisis are also treated by many historians as a major body of work. In these pieces he theorized propaganda, democracy, and international politics, though formal philosophers sometimes underappreciated them until recent decades.
Later Historical and Global Writings
Beyond Black Reconstruction, Du Bois wrote further historical and sociological works on Africa and the diaspora, including studies of Pan-Africanism and world peace. His later writings, produced amid Cold War pressures and African decolonization, integrate Marxian analysis with a global theory of the color line. Interpretations differ on how closely these late works align with orthodox Marxism versus a distinctive, race-centered historical materialism developed across his career.
5. Core Ideas: Color Line and Double Consciousness
The Color Line
Du Bois’s claim that “the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line” encapsulates his view that racial division structures modern society.
“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line.”
— Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, “Forethought”
The color line refers to institutionalized boundaries separating people classified as white from those deemed nonwhite, especially Black, across domains such as labor, law, education, and empire. Some interpreters treat it primarily as a U.S. phenomenon (segregation, disfranchisement), while others emphasize Du Bois’s own extension to a global color line, linking U.S. racism to European imperialism in Africa and Asia.
Debate persists over whether Du Bois understood the color line mainly as:
- A socio‑economic structure (e.g., a mechanism for organizing labor and resources), or
- A broader civilizational and cultural hierarchy shaping identity, culture, and knowledge.
Most readings acknowledge that he eventually wove these dimensions together.
Double Consciousness
Double consciousness describes the internal, psychological effect of the color line on Black subjectivity:
“It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others…”
— Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, ch. 1
Du Bois depicts Black Americans as simultaneously American and Negro, compelled to see themselves both through their own self-understanding and through the demeaning gaze of a racist society. Some theorists emphasize its conflictual aspect—a painful, fractured self; others highlight a critical or even productive dimension, suggesting that seeing from “two-ness” can yield heightened social insight.
Philosophers differ on whether double consciousness is:
- A universal feature of oppressed identities, or
- Specific to particular historical forms of anti-Black racism.
Contemporary discussions often connect Du Bois’s idea to phenomenology, existentialism, and theories of recognition, while still debating how far it generalizes beyond his original context.
6. Race, History, and the Philosophy of Social Science
Du Bois developed a distinctive approach to race, history, and social science that challenges both biological determinism and claims of value‑free inquiry.
Conception of Race
In essays such as “The Conservation of Races” and in Dusk of Dawn, Du Bois depicted races as historically formed social groups sharing intertwined experiences, cultures, and “strivings.” He rejected biological essentialism while insisting that racial categories have real effects on life chances and identity. Many contemporary philosophers read this as an early form of social constructionism about race, though some note that he also used language about racial “souls” that appears more culturalist or even quasi‑spiritual.
Philosophy of History
In Black Reconstruction, Du Bois advanced a revisionist account of the Civil War and Reconstruction, centering Black labor and collective action. He argued that conventional historiography had produced a “propaganda of history” that obscured Black agency and justified white supremacy. This has been interpreted as an early critical philosophy of history, in which historical narratives are evaluated not only for accuracy but also for the social interests and power relations they serve.
Social Science and Normativity
Du Bois’s empirical studies, especially The Philadelphia Negro, combined:
- Systematic data collection and mapping, and
- Explicit normative concerns about justice and democracy.
He criticized “neutral” social science that ignored racial domination, while also resisting purely moralistic approaches that lacked empirical grounding. Recent scholarship characterizes his stance as an emancipatory social science, where the experiences of the oppressed serve as key sources of knowledge. Some commentators see this as anticipating later work on standpoint epistemology and the sociology of knowledge, though others caution against retrofitting contemporary frameworks onto his diverse and evolving views.
Overall, Du Bois treated race, history, and social science as mutually informing: racial structures shape historical development and knowledge production, and critical inquiry must therefore address both empirical facts and the power-laden narratives built around them.
7. Democracy, Elites, and Public Opinion
Du Bois’s writings on democracy explore tensions between mass participation, leadership, and the formation of public opinion in racially stratified societies.
The Talented Tenth and Elite Leadership
In early essays, Du Bois proposed that a “Talented Tenth”—a relatively small, highly educated Black elite—should lead broader efforts at racial uplift. He argued that this group, given opportunities for advanced education and cultural development, could challenge racist stereotypes and advocate for civil rights.
Supporters see this as a pragmatic response to educational exclusion and as part of a broader theory of leadership under oppressive conditions. Critics, including some contemporaries and later theorists, contend that it risks elitism, class separation within Black communities, and overreliance on respectability politics.
Public Opinion and Propaganda
As editor of The Crisis, Du Bois reflected extensively on propaganda, news, and public sentiment. He held that in a racist society, public opinion is often distorted by misinformation and prejudice. At the same time, he defended the strategic use of “propaganda for truth” to counteract racist narratives and mobilize support for justice.
His position has been interpreted in different ways:
- Some see it as an early critical theory of ideology, where dominant media reproduce racial hierarchies.
- Others highlight his insistence on accuracy and moral purpose, distinguishing his view from purely manipulative propaganda.
Democracy Under the Color Line
Du Bois doubted that formal democratic procedures alone could secure justice where racial exclusion persists. He analyzed voter suppression, segregation, and economic inequality as systematic barriers to genuine democratic participation. Some commentators read him as a radical democrat, seeking deeper inclusion and education for the masses; others emphasize his recurring ambivalence about mass opinion and his periodic turn toward more centralized, expert‑guided solutions.
Across these debates, Du Bois’s thought on democracy links questions of leadership, education, and media to the structural realities of the color line, suggesting that democratic ideals cannot be realized without transforming both institutions and the conditions under which publics form their judgments.
8. Pan-Africanism, Marxism, and Global Politics
Du Bois played a central role in articulating a global perspective on race, linking African American struggles to colonialism and world politics.
Pan-Africanism and the Global Color Line
From the early twentieth century onward, Du Bois helped organize Pan-African congresses and argued that people of African descent shared a common fate shaped by slavery, colonialism, and racial capitalism. He described a global color line connecting U.S. segregation, Caribbean plantation economies, and European rule in Africa and Asia.
Some scholars emphasize his role as a cosmopolitan humanist, seeking a more inclusive world democracy; others stress his commitment to specifically Black and African solidarities, seeing him as a key architect of Pan-African nationalism.
Engagement with Marxism
During the Depression and after, Du Bois increasingly adopted Marxian concepts of class and capital. In Black Reconstruction, he framed Reconstruction as a struggle between labor and capital in which Black workers were pivotal. Later, he explicitly endorsed socialism and joined the Communist Party USA.
Interpretations vary:
- One view holds that Du Bois became a relatively orthodox Marxist, integrating race into a class-centered framework.
- Another sees him as modifying Marxism by insisting that race and colonialism are not mere “superstructures” but fundamental to global capitalism.
Debates continue about how far his Marxian commitments shaped, or were constrained by, his earlier liberal and nationalist ideas.
Anti-Imperialism, Peace, and Ghana
After World War II, Du Bois linked racial justice to anti‑imperial and anti‑nuclear politics, participating in peace movements and criticizing Western alliances he saw as protecting colonial interests. His move to Ghana in 1961, at the invitation of President Kwame Nkrumah, symbolized his alignment with African decolonization.
Some commentators interpret this relocation as the culmination of a long trajectory from U.S.-centered reformism to global revolutionary commitments; others emphasize continuities in his thought, arguing that Pan-Africanism and critiques of empire were present from his earliest writings but took on new institutional forms as decolonization advanced.
9. Methodology and Style of Inquiry
Du Bois’s approach to knowledge combined empirical rigor, literary expression, and political engagement in ways that challenge standard disciplinary boundaries.
Mixed Methods and Empiricism
In works like The Philadelphia Negro, Du Bois used surveys, interviews, and statistical mapping to analyze Black life in Philadelphia. He integrated quantitative data with qualitative observation and historical context. Social scientists often regard this as pioneering mixed-methods research.
At the same time, he rejected claims of value‑neutrality. His methodology assumed that social inquiry should address injustice and guide reform. Some commentators describe this stance as an early form of critical social science, while others highlight tensions between his empirical aspirations and his moral commitments.
Narrative, Symbolism, and Autobiography
In The Souls of Black Folk and later texts, Du Bois employed literary devices—spirituals as epigraphs, allegory, and personal narrative—to convey aspects of Black experience that he considered inaccessible to statistics alone. Philosophers and literary critics debate whether this stylistic hybridity strengthens his arguments by showing lived reality, or risks blurring the line between description and exhortation.
Works like Dusk of Dawn exemplify what he called an “autobiography of a race concept,” intertwining his life story with the evolution of racial thinking in the United States. This method has been seen as anticipating later autoethnography and as a contribution to the sociology of knowledge.
Knowledge, Standpoint, and Reflexivity
Du Bois frequently suggested that oppressed groups possess distinctive insights into social structure. Although he did not use contemporary terminology, many scholars interpret this as a precursor to standpoint theory. Others caution that he also valued expertise and elite education, complicating any straightforward egalitarian epistemology.
Overall, Du Bois’s methodology and style reflect a conviction that understanding race and modernity requires a fusion of data, history, narrative, and self-reflection, with the production of knowledge itself situated within contested power relations.
10. Impact on Philosophy and Critical Theory
Du Bois’s influence on philosophy and critical theory has expanded significantly since the late twentieth century, as scholars have reevaluated his work beyond traditional disciplinary confines.
Africana Philosophy and Critical Race Theory
Du Bois is widely regarded as a foundational figure in Africana philosophy, particularly for his analyses of race, colonialism, and Black subjectivity. His concept of double consciousness influenced later thinkers such as Frantz Fanon, who explored similar themes of internalized oppression and divided selfhood under colonialism.
In critical race theory, Du Bois’s ideas about the color line, racialized knowledge, and the “wages of whiteness” are frequently cited as precursors to contemporary studies of structural racism, interest convergence, and white privilege. Some theorists frame him as an early social constructionist about race; others highlight tensions in his writings that resist simple classification.
Philosophy of Social Science and History
Du Bois’s blend of empirical research and normative critique has been taken up in debates about the philosophy of social science, especially regarding the role of values, standpoint, and power in inquiry. His notion of a “propaganda of history” in Black Reconstruction has influenced discussions of ideology, memory, and historical injustice.
Democratic Theory and Epistemology
In political philosophy, Du Bois’s reflections on citizenship, education, and elites inform recent work on democratic theory and the epistemology of ignorance. His analyses of how racial hierarchy distorts public opinion and knowledge resonate with contemporary concerns about misinformation and structural epistemic injustice.
Reception and Canonization
For much of the twentieth century, Du Bois was more studied in history and sociology than in philosophy departments. Since the 1980s, however, there has been a growing movement to recognize him as a philosopher in his own right. Some scholars argue that his interdisciplinary style challenges narrow definitions of philosophy, while others question how best to situate him within, or against, established philosophical canons. These debates themselves reflect the ongoing impact of Du Bois’s work on how philosophy conceives its own scope and methods.
11. Legacy and Historical Significance
Du Bois’s legacy spans academic disciplines, political movements, and public memory, and is interpreted in multiple, sometimes conflicting, ways.
Influence on Scholarship and Education
In sociology, history, and Black studies, Du Bois is widely recognized as a pioneer whose empirical and theoretical work anticipated later developments. Many universities name centers, programs, and prizes after him, reflecting his status as a foundational figure in the study of race and the African diaspora.
In philosophy, the ongoing incorporation of Du Bois into curricula has been seen as part of a broader diversification of the canon. Some argue that his inclusion reshapes understandings of modern social and political philosophy; others stress the need to situate him alongside a wider range of global and non‑Western thinkers.
Political and Movement Legacies
Du Bois’s involvement with the NAACP, Pan-African congresses, and peace movements has made him a reference point for civil rights, Black nationalist, socialist, and decolonial traditions. Different movements emphasize different aspects of his work:
| Tradition | Emphasized Aspects of Du Bois |
|---|---|
| Civil rights liberalism | NAACP activism, legal equality, education |
| Black nationalism / Pan-Africanism | Global color line, African unity, Ghana years |
| Socialist and communist currents | Class analysis, critique of capitalism and imperialism |
These selective appropriations sometimes downplay tensions within his thought—for example, between elite leadership and mass democracy, or between national reform and global revolution.
Contested Assessments
Du Bois’s later membership in the Communist Party and his criticisms of U.S. Cold War policy have led to divergent evaluations. Some commentators view him as a principled critic of racism and imperialism whose positions were later vindicated by decolonization and civil rights gains. Others question aspects of his political judgment, particularly regarding Soviet-aligned states and the risks of centralized power.
Despite these disagreements, there is broad consensus that Du Bois significantly reshaped how race, democracy, and modernity are understood. His historical significance lies not only in the specific positions he defended but also in his model of engaged, interdisciplinary inquiry linking scholarship to struggles over justice on both national and global scales.
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@online{philopedia_w_e_b_du_bois,
title = {William Edward Burghardt Du Bois},
author = {Philopedia},
year = {2025},
url = {https://philopedia.com/thinkers/w-e-b-du-bois/},
urldate = {December 11, 2025}
}Note: This entry was last updated on 2025-12-10. For the most current version, always check the online entry.