Dept. of Education misspells iconic educator's name in tweet

Accidents certainly happen in this day of instant information and social media inundation. But one has to believe that there were stern words spoken to the social media team for the Dept. of Education after the name of prominent educator, author and activist W.E.B. Du Bois was misspelled in a tweet Sunday.

Du Bois (1868-1963) was a prominent American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, and editor. He was the first African-American to earn a doctorate at Harvard University in 1895. And he later became a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University.

The NAACP notes Du Bois’s most lasting contribution is his writing. As poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, sociologist, historian, and journalist, he wrote 21 books, edited 15 more, and published over 100 essays and articles.  

The social media flub began at 8:45 a.m. ET with this tweet:

The goof was noticed at 12:14 p.m. ET: 

And corrected at 12:15 p.m. ET:

“Education must not simply teach work - it must teach life” -- who could disagree? But it’s too delicious not to add that education must also teach spelling.

But in fairness, it is a tricky name with those three initials and the French spelling ...