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Article: Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt
- Article from:
- West's Encyclopedia of American Law
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DU BOIS, WILLIAM EDWARD BURGHARDT
W. E. B. Du Bois was an African American intellectual, sociologist, poet, and activist whose fierce commitment to racial equality was the seminal force behind important sociopolitical reforms in the twentieth-century United States.
Although Du Bois may not have the same name recognition as frederick douglass or martin luther king jr., he is regarded by most historians as an influential leader. King himself praised Du Bois as an intellectual giant whose "singular greatness lay in his quest for truth about his own people." Reflecting on Du Bois's legacy, playwright Lorraine Hansberry noted that "his ideas have influenced a multitude who do not even know ...