W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) was an American sociologist, historian and civil rights activist. The first African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard, he became a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University. He rose to national prominence as the leader of the Niagara Movement, a group of African-American activists who wanted equal rights for blacks, and was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. He wrote one of the first scientific treatises in the field of American sociology, and published three autobiographies. Black Reconstruction in America (1935) challenged the prevailing orthodoxy that blacks were responsible for the failures of the Reconstruction Era. On August 28, 1963, a day after his death, his book The Souls of Black Folk was highlighted by Roy Wilkins at the March on Washington, and hundreds of thousands of marchers honored him with a moment of silence. A year later, the US Civil Rights Act, embodying many of the reforms for which he had campaigned his entire life, was enacted.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1789:

With the first use of his new 1.2 m (3.9 ft) telescope, then the largest in the world, William Herschel discovered a new moon of Saturn, which was later named Enceladus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enceladus

1830:

Tom Thumb, the first American-built steam locomotive, engaged in an impromptu race against a horse-drawn car in Maryland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Thumb_(locomotive)

1914:

In the first naval battle of the First World War, British ships ambushed a German naval patrol in the Heligoland Bight area of the North Sea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Heligoland_Bight_(1914)

1924:

An unsuccessful insurrection against Soviet rule in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, known as the August Uprising, began. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Uprising

1963:

During a large political rally in Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, describing his desire for a future where blacks and whites would coexist harmoniously as equals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_a_Dream

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

syndicate: 1. A group of individuals or companies formed to transact some specific business, or to promote a common interest; a self-coordinating group. 2. (crime) A group of gangsters engaged in organized crime. 3. (mass media) A group of media companies, or an agency, formed to acquire content such as articles, cartoons, etc., and to publish it in multiple outlets; a chain of newspapers or other media outlets managed by such an organization. 4. The office or jurisdiction of a syndic; a body or council of syndics. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/syndicate

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.   --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe