Who was the first Black person to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard and helped create the NAACP in 1910?

• A. W. E. B. Du Bois
• B. Ida B. Wells
• C. Susan B. Anthony
• D. Sanford B. Dole

Answer: (A)

This question highlights a figure who combined groundbreaking academic achievement with active civil rights organizing. W. E. B. Du Bois earned a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1895, becoming the first African American to do so. He didn’t stop at scholarship; he helped found the NAACP in 1909, linking rigorous study of race with organized, nationwide efforts to secure equality. That unique mix—high-level education and leadership in a national civil rights organization—makes him the best fit for this description.

Ida B. Wells was a towering anti-lynching journalist and activist but did not earn a Harvard Ph.D. Susan B. Anthony was a prominent white suffragist, not Black. Sanford B. Dole was a Hawaiian political leader, not connected to the NAACP or Harvard’s graduate work.