Painted portrait of W. E. B. Du Bois, by Laura Wheeler Waring, housed at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D. C. W. E. B. Du Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, writer and editor. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community. After completing graduate work at the University of Berlin and Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate, he became a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University. Du Bois was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. (Wikipedia). He also founded The Crisis magazine. Exhibition Label: The Harmon Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in New York City and active from (1922-1967) included this portrait in their exhibition “Portraits of Outstanding Americans of Negro Origins” which documented noteworthy African Americans’ contributions to the country. Modeling their goal of social equality, the Harmon sought portraits from an African-American artist, Laura Wheeler Waring and Euro-American artist, Betsy Graves Reyneau. The two painters followed the conventional codes of academic portraiture, seeking to convey their sitters extraordinary accomplishments. This painting, along with a variety of educational materials, toured nation-wide for ten years serving as a visual rebuttal to racism.
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b08_f11_005a.tif ark:/21198/z1fv0440
Subject
African American authors African American civil rights workers African American sociologists Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963
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