Chronology of W.E.B. Du Bois's Life
| 1868 | Born February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts |
| 1888 | Received his undergraduate degree
from Fisk University; won a scholarship to Harvard University |
| 1894-1896 | Professor of classics, Wilberforce University |
| 1895 | First African-American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University |
| 1899 | The Philadelphia Negro |
| 1900 | Helped organize and attended the First Pan-African Conference |
| 1905 | Helped begin the Niagra Movement |
| 1897-1910 | Professor of history and economics, Atlanta University |
| 1903 | The Souls of Black Folks |
| 1909 | Helped found the NAACP |
| 1910-1932 | NAACP's Director of Publications and editor of its publication, The Crisis |
| 1911-1912 | Socialist Party Member |
| 1926 | First visit to the Soviet Union |
| 1934-1944 | Professor and chairman of sociology department, Atlanta University |
| 1944-1948 | Director of the Department of Special Research, NAACP |
| 1950 | Chair of the Peace Information Center |
| 1959 | Awarded the Lenin Peace Prize |
| 1961 | Joined the Communist Party; emigrated to Ghana |
| 1963 | Became a Ghanian citizen and renounced his U.S. citizenship; died August 27, 1963 |