W. E. B. Du Bois joined the Harvard Class of 1890 in its junior year. He entered the Ph.D. division of History and Political Science to major in political science. At the end of the 19th century, political science was a synonym for “social science” and encompassed government, economics, and sociology. Economists have a rightful (partial) claim to Du Bois, much as they have to Thorstein Veblen.
This post provides transcriptions from five Harvard class of 1890 reports on the life and activities of W.E.B. Du Bois through 1820.
Other posts dealing with Du Bois:
Du Bois’ choice of textbooks at Atlanta University
Du Bois goes after Columbia’s Burgess for ‘Anti-Negro’ history
Dubois and Balch post on race and gender
________________________
1897 Report
of the Harvard Class of 1890
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois is at present teaching at Wilborforce University, Green County, Ohio, an institution for education of colored youth. Has lately published a monograph on the suppression of the slave trade from the press of Longmans, Green & Co. 1896-97, Fellow, University of Pennsylvania.
Source: Harvard College Class of 1890. Secretary’s Report, No. 3. Boston (1897), p. 38.
________________________
1903 Report
of the Harvard Class of 1890
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois. “In the fall of 1897 I accepted a position at Atlanta University as professor of history and economics. Here I am still at work. During that time I have published the following works:—
“‘The Philadelphia Negro,’ 520 pp., Ginn & Co., 1899.
“‘The Negroes of Farmville, Va.,’ 38 pp., Bulletin U. S. Department of Labor, January, 1898.
“‘The Study of the Negro Problems,’ 21 pp., Publications of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, No. 219.
“‘Strivings of the Negro People,’ Atlantic Monthly, August, 1897.
“‘A Negro Schoolmaster in the New South,’ Atlantic Monthly, January, 1899.
“‘The Evolution of Negro Leadership,’ (a review of Washington’s “Up from Slavery,”) Dial, July 16, 1901.
“‘The Storm and Stress in the Black World,’ (a review of Thomas’s “American Negro,”) Dial, April 16, 1901.
“‘The Savings of Black Georgia,’ Outlook, September 14, 1901.
“‘The Relation of the Negroes to the Whites in the South,’ Publications of American Academy of Social and Political Science, No. 311. (Reprinted in ‘America’s Race Problems,’ McClure, Phillips & Co., 1901.)
“‘The Negro Land-holder in Georgia,’ 130 pp., Bulletin of U. S. Department of Labor, No. 35.
“‘The Negro as He Really Is,’ World’s Work, June, 1901.
“‘The Freedmen’s Bureau,’ Atlantic Monthly, March, 1901.
“‘The Religion of the American Negro,’ New World, December, 1900.
“‘The Black North,’ New York Times, 1901. [Series: (1st) 17 Nov; (2nd) 24 Nov; (3rd) 1 Dec; (4th) 8 Dec; (6th, sic) 15 Dec]
“‘The Opening of the Library,’ Independent, April 3, 1902.
“I have also edited the following Atlanta University publications:—
“‘Some Efforts of American Negroes for Social Betterment,’ 66 pp., 1898.
“‘The Negro in Business,’ 77 pp., 1899.
“‘The College-Bred Negro,’ 115 pp., 1900.
“‘The Negro Common School,”120 pp., 1901.
“We have had one little boy, born October 3, 1897, died May 24, 1899; a daughter, Nina Yolande, was born October 4, 1900. Married, May 12, 1896, Nina Gomer.”
Address, Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga.
Source: Harvard College Class of 1890. Secretary’s Report, No. 4. Boston (1903), pp. 42-43.
________________________
1909 Report
of the Harvard Class of 1890
PROF. WILLIAM EDWARD BURGHARDT DUBOIS. Son of Alfred Alexander DuBois and Mary Sylvina (Burghardt) DuBois.
Born at Great Barrington, Mass., Feb. 23, 1868.
Prepared for college at Great Barrington (Mass.) High School and Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn.
Writes: “I am still Professor of Economics and History in Atlanta University. Since the last report I have published: ‘Souls of Black Folk,’ A. C. McClurg, Chicago, Ill., 264 pp., 1903; ‘Negro in the South’ (by Washington & DuBois), J. W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 222 pp., 1907; ‘The Negro Church,’ Atlanta, 212 pp., 1903; ‘Negro Crime,’ Atlanta, 75 pp., 1904; ‘Bibliography of the Negro American,’ Atlanta, 72 pp., 1905; ‘Health and Physique of the Negro American,’ Atlanta, 112 pp., 1906; ‘Economic Coöperation among Negro Americans,’ Atlanta, 184 pp., 1907; ‘The Negro American Family,’ Atlanta, 152 pp., 1908; ‘John Brown,’Philadelphia, G. W. Jacobs & Co., 350 pp., 1909.
“I am General Secretary of the ‘Niagara Movement,’ and Editor-in-chief of the ‘Horizon,’ ‘A Journal of the Color Line.’”
He lectured in the Union on “The Transplanting of a Race 1442-1860.”
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Source: Harvard College Class of 1890. Secretary’s Report, No. 5, 1903-1909. Boston (1909), pp. 42.
________________________
1915 Report
of the Harvard Class of 1890
WILLIAM EDWARD BURGHARDT DU BOIS
BORN at Great Barrington, Mass., Feb. 23, 1868. Son of Alfred Alexander and Mary Sylvina (Burghardt) Du Bois. Prepared at Great Barrington High School, Great Barrington, Mass.
IN COLLEGE, 1888–90. Entered Fall of ’88, graduated ’90. DEGREES: A.B. 1890; A.M. 1891; Ph.D. 1895; A.B. (Fisk Univ.) 1888.
MARRIED to Nina Gomer at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, May 12, 1896. CHILDREN: Burghardt Gomer, born Oct. 3, 1897, died May 24, 1899; Nina Yolande, born Oct. 14, 1900.
OCCUPATION: Editor.
DURING the years 1897–1910 I was Professor of Economics and History at Atlanta University. I have been Editor of The Crisis Magazine from 1910 to date. I am also Director of Publicity and Research of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In 1911 I was Secretary for the United States Universal Races Congress.
ADDRESS: (home) 248 West 64th St., Apt. 45, New York, N. Y.; (business) 70 Fifth Ave., Room 521, New York, N. Y.
PUBLICATIONS: “Souls of Black Folk,” “Negro in the South,” (by Washington and DuBois), “The Negro Church,” “Negro Crime,” “Bibliography of the Negro American,” “Health and Physique of the Negro American,” “Economic Coöperation among Negro Americans,” “The Negro American Family,” “John Brown,” “Efforts for Social Betterment Among Negro Americans,” “The College Bred Negro American,” “The Common School and the Negro American,” “The Negro American Artisan,” “Morals and Manners Among Negro Americans,” “The Quest of the Silver Fleece,” “The Philadelphia Negro,” “The Negro, Home University Library,” “The Suppression of the Slave Trade.”
CLUBS AND SOCIETIES: Authors’ League of America, Liberal Club, New York; Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Royal Societies Club, London.
Source: Harvard College, Class of 1890. Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report, 1890-1915, Secretary’s Report, No. 6, pp. 94-95.
________________________
1920 Report
of the Harvard Class of 1890
WILLIAM EDWARD BURGHARDT DU BOIS
BORN at Great Barrington, Mass., Feb. 23, 1868. Son of Alfred Alexander and Mary Sylvina (Burghardt) Du Bois. Prepared at Great Barrington High School, Great Barrington, Mass.
IN COLLEGE, 1888–90, DEGREES: A.B. 1890; A.M. 1891; Ph.D. 1895; A.B. (Fisk Univ.) 1888.
MARRIED to Nina Gomer at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, May 12, 1896. CHILDREN: Burghardt Gomer, born Oct. 3, 1897, died May 24, 1899; Nina Yolande, born Oct. 14, 1900.
OCCUPATION: Editor, New York.
Since 1915 I have continued my work as editor of “The Crisis” magazine, which has a circulation of one hundred thousand. I have also begun the publication of a magazine for colored children, known as “The Brownies’ Book.” I have published “The Negro” in The Home University Library , in 1915 , and “Darkwater,” a book of essays, in 1920. After the armistice, I was sent to France to represent the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People. While there, I assembled a Pan-African Conference with fifty delegates, representing sixteen different Negro groups. This conference made report to the Peace Conference, concerning the future of Africa and the treatment of colored peoples.
Source: Harvard College, Class of 1890.Thirtieth Anniversary, 1920, Secretary’s Report, No. 7, pp. 65-66.
Image Source: W. E. B. Du Bois in Philadelphia, 1896. National Archives/National Historical Publications & Record Commission/Papers of W.E.B. Du Bois (Microfilm Edition).