W.E.B. DuBois (1868 - 1963) was born and raised in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Growing up in a tolerant and integrated community, he eventually completed graduate study at the University of Berlin and Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate. Along with being a sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, and author, he also was one of the co-founders of the NAACP in 1909.
