Education and Empowerment: The Essential Wirtings of W.E.B. Du Bois

W.E.B. Du Bois’ role as a contributor to educational thought was ignored throughout his lifetime and has been sparsely considered in the fifty years after his death. Many of the twenty-four writings contained here have not been viewed in the context of Du Bois’ educational thought. This selection of Du Bois’ writings is divided into three sections. The first section contains the writings of an adolescent Du Bois, who even at the age of fifteen, had the vision to encourage the people of his hometown to engage in literacy activities and to increase their political awareness. The second section contains the works that led to Du Bois earning his Harvard doctorate, including a tersely worded letter to former President Rutherford B. Hayes when it appeared that Du Bois might have initially been denied a fellowship. The third section includes writings where Du Bois assumed a more combative posture, but in doing so displayed the fire and passion that made him a most influential, although ignored, educational thinker. These writings demonstrate that Du Bois was not an incidental thinker about education-he was a cornerstone contributor.