W.E.B Du Bois, Black Scholar, Civil Rights Activist, and 'American Master'

Influential scholar W.E.B Du Bois lived through many significant periods for Black Civil Rights in America, from being born just 5 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, documenting Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century. He was also a New Yorker, living for 10 years in Brooklyn Heights before moving to Ghana, where he died the day before the March on Washington at the age of 95. A new two-hour documentary, 'W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause,' tells the full life story Du Bois, as part of PBS's American Masters series. Director Rita Coburn discusses her work on the film, premiering on May 19 at 9pm.

Photo by Bettmann via Getty Images: W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963), American educator, editor and writer who helped create the (NAACP) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Undated Photograph.