​Born on February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in the subject of history from Harvard University. Du Bois also played a prominent role in the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He became the voice for many young African Americans, fighting against the demand by many whites that black education be primarily industrial and that black students in the South learn to accept white supremacy..