W. E. B. Du Bois, Ph.D
In a career that spanned 75 years, Du Bois made a name for himself as a prolific author, poet, journalist, sociologist, historian, novelist, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist.
Du Bois identified structural racism and discrimination in the primary domains of their live – health, occupation, employment, education, housing, the environment, voting, and institutional life. He was the first to systematically study the Black community by collecting data using surveys, interviews, and observations along with archival sources, census data, local government reports, and newspapers. He made the argument that anti-Black racism, not Black pathology or Black inferiority, explained poverty and the crime experienced by Black people.
Du Bois drew attention to racial disparities in outcomes such as health and criminal justice. Ultimately, his research and writings lifted the veil of racism and provided a voice for those living on the margins. W. E. B. Du Bois received the NAACP Spingarn Medal in 1920 and a Fisk University honorary degree and induction into the Phi Beta Kappa chapter in 1958. In 1969, the W.E. B. Du Bois Institute for African American and African American Research was established at Harvard University.
Source: https://www.naswfoundation.org/Our-Work/NASW-Social-Work-Pioneers/NASW-Social-Workers-Pioneers-Bio-Index/id/935
Photo Source: NASW Foundation
