Born in Massachusetts, February 23, 1868, the sociologist, writer, and activist William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was a very insightful student, attending all black school Fisk University in Nashville at only 15 years old. It was only after he earned his doctorate from Harvard he noticed the wicked conditions African Americans had down South, from racism and poverty to deficient education. Using his pedagogy as professor of Atlanta University, he illuminated the lives of African Americans. His role on the ‘National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’ guided to a great impact on racial segregation in the 1960’s with the Civil Rights Movement. Not only did Du Bois target Jim Crow laws in the south, but traveled around the world during after World War I, surveying black soldiers about their conditions during the war. Du Bois also wanted to expand awareness about the poor lives of African American lives. Du Bois encouraged more radical protests. Being the editor of Crisis, a magazine encouraging African Americans to become more socially active, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was one of the biggest contributors to the Harlem Renaissance.