William Edward Burghardt Du Bois dubbed « W. E. B. Du Bois », is a sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, pan-African activist, editorialist and American writer. After graduating from Harvard University, where he was the first African-American to earn a PhD, he became a professor of history, sociology and economics at Clark Atlanta University. Du Bois was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. He gained notoriety at national level by becoming the head of the Niagara Movement, a group of African-American activists demanding equality rights for black people.