Georgia State University (GSU) HIST 2110 Survey of US History Exam 2 Practice

This question is about recognizing a figure who combined groundbreaking academic achievement with major civil rights leadership. W. E. B. Du Bois earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1895, becoming the first African American to achieve that level of scholarship at Harvard. He then used his scholarly authority to push for full political and social rights for Black Americans and helped organize a national movement to address racial injustice. He was a key founder of the NAACP around 1909–1910, an organization created to combatlynching and ensure legal protections and equal rights.

Frederick Douglass was a leading abolitionist and orator but did not have a Harvard Ph.D. and did not help found the NAACP. Marcus Garvey led a different movement focused on Black nationalism and economic self-reliance. Booker T. Washington emphasized vocational education and accommodation within the era’s constraints, not the Harvard Ph.D. milestone or the NAACP founding.