W.E.B. Du Bois Name Misspelled by US Education Department

W.E.B Du Bois's name was misspelled by the U.S. Department of Education in a Twitter post meant to honor the well-known African-American civil rights activist and historian during Black History Month.

Du Bois, a Harvard-educated sociologist who went on to become a founding officer of the NAACP, taught at Wilberforce University and Atlanta University. He died in 1963, noted History.com.

An education department tweet, since deleted, spelled his name "DeBois," reported USA Today. Numerous followers on Twitter jumped on the mistake.

@usedgov It's either a terrible mistake or a perverse foray into humor. His name is W.E.B. Du Bois. Screenshot saved.

— Jeffrey Guterman (@JeffreyGuterman) February 12, 2017

On this day, as the @usedgov misspelled his name, W.E.B. DuBois in 1909 helped found the @NAACP. #BHM @zellieimani pic.twitter.com/f23en4lcW3

— Ryan P. Haygood (@RyanPHaygood) February 12, 2017

So, the @usedgov is paying tribute to someone named, W.E.B. DeBois for #BlackHistoryMonth:https://t.co/fZTMp1ydPV pic.twitter.com/QJ4BM0wGFB

— The Root (@TheRoot) February 12, 2017

The Washington Post reported that the department apologized for the mistake, but misspelled "apologies." The department quickly corrected that mistake but not before Twitter users spotted the second error, too.

So the US Dept. Of Education misspelled W.E.B. DuBois name earlier, then made a misspelling in their apology tweet. Is America being punked? pic.twitter.com/C7wbyQuUh6

— Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) February 12, 2017

It took the Education Department over 4 hours to fix this typo. And then their apology had another typo. pic.twitter.com/KTGuD0WNPH

— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) February 12, 2017

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