Social media mocks Education Department for misspelled tweet

WASHINGTON  — The Education Department is getting social media criticism after misspelling the name of a prominent African-American sociologist.

In a tweet Sunday from its official account, the department attributed a quotation to W.E.B. DeBois, incorrectly spelling the last name with an "E."

The sociologist's last name is correctly spelled D-U B-O-I-S.



About fifteen minutes later, the account tweeted an apology, but that didn't prevent hundreds of responses mocking the department's misspelling.



One commenter tweeted: "Looks like @Betsy DeVos is in charge now!" referring to the billionaire GOP donor narrowly confirmed as education secretary last week with a tie-breaker vote by Vice President Mike Pence.

Others posted quizzical looks from African-American students.

Another tweeted: "Smooth move during #BlackHistoryMonth."

Email messages seeking comment from the Education Department were not immediately returned.