Born on February 23, 1868, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois lived through the collapse of Reconstruction through two World Wars to the rise of the Civil Rights Movement. The film follows his life chronologically, enriched by commentary from leading scholars, historians, artists, and biographers including Raymond Arsenault, Karida Brown, Eric Foner, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Eddie Glaude Jr., Nikole Hannah-Jones, David Levering Lewis, Imani Perry, and more.

For Du Bois, the power of the pen was his greatest weapon. He authored more than 20 books and fused scholarship with activism, deploying literature, data, and groundbreaking infographics to expose the roots of systemic racism. Drawing from his books, articles, speeches, and archival audio, Rebel With A Cause illuminates the poetry and force of his language through dramatic readings by Common, Courtney B. Vance, and Jeffrey Wright, with narration by Viola Davis.

Rebel With A Cause charts this visionary’s singular journey by exploring both his monumental achievements and his deeply personal struggles. From the loss of his infant son to his lifelong battles with systemic racism, Du Bois’s humanity shaped his activism, enabling him to transcend the social constraints of the early 20th century and elevate the lives of Black people worldwide — inspiring leaders from the Harlem Renaissance to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  

A rebel against the status quo, Du Bois relentlessly spearheaded the fight for racial justice. By showing the world “The Souls of Black Folk,” through his 1903 book by that same name, he prophetically declared: “The problem of the 20th century is the color line.” He co-founded the NAACP, helped launch the Niagara Movement, challenged contemporaries such as Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey, and contributed to the founding of the United Nations.

“My hope is that this documentary invites reflection and sparks dialogue, not only aboutwho Du Bois was, but about the world we continue to shape in his wake,” said director Rita Coburn. “His life reminds us that scholarship and art, grounded in truth, can be weapons against oppression. To tell his story is to affirm that the pursuit of justice is as urgent today as it was in his time.”

Coburn previously directed and produced American Masters documentaries about trailblazers Maya Angelou and Marian Anderson. Her film Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise (co-directed with Bob Hercules), which premiered on American Masters in 2017, was an official selection at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and won the AFI Docs Audience Award. Marian Anderson: The Whole World In Her Hands, which aired on American Masters in 2022, received the highest documentary production grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and was recognized with a Christopher Award.

“Dr. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois lived from 1868 to 1963, and he devoted his life to helping us all understand what he called ‘the problem of the color line,’” said Michael Kantor, Executive Producer of American Masters.  “Though even the brilliant Dr. Du Bois couldn’t solve this problem, his teachings and his influence couldn’t resonate more strongly today.”