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William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts on February 23, 1868. Before Du Bois began school his father left the family and never came back. Du Bois enjoyed a pleasant childhood, participating in many of the activities with the other children. Du Bois took college preparatory classes while in high school. He was also a column writer of a newspaper, the New York Globe. While still young he attended town meetings to listen to people discuss concerns of the town. He spoke about Wendell Phillips at his high school graduation. Du Bois’s mother unexpectedly died in 1884. After high school, he attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. At Fisk he took part in public speaking and debates. He edited the Fisk Herald, the school’s paper. At Fisk he realized that his goal was not for his own happiness, but for the advancement of the black race. He graduated from Fisk in 1886 with an A. B. degree. After Fisk he was accepted into Harvard. In 1895 Du Bois became the first African American to get a Ph.D. from Harvard. Even with a Ph. D. from Harvard he did not feel he was ready to deal with the problems that African Americans faced. He then spent two years at Berlin University. This