W.E.B. DuBois was born in Barrington, Massachusetts. During his teen years he worked as a local correspondent for the New York Globe. He attended Fisk University from 1885 to 1888 and continued his higher education at Harvard University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts, Master's, and Ph.D. He worked as a professor, and then in 1896 took a fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania to study urban slums. After completing this work, he moved to Atlanta University, where he taught sociology for thirteen years. In 1906, he was part of the Niagara Movement, which advocated social justice and the abolition of caste discrimination. In 1909 this group merged with white liberals to form the N.A.A.C.P., and DuBois became the editor of the association's newspaper, Crisis. He represented the N.A.A.C.P. at the 1919 Peace Conference and attempted to organize several pan-African conferences before he withdrew from the organization to resume his post at Atlanta University. Later in life he moved to Ghana and took citizenship there.

Source:
"Autobiographical Sketch of W.E.B. DuBois." W.E.B. DuBois Learning Center. Gerald C. Hynes. http://www.duboislc.org/man.html. 18 February, 2005.