They were not her tweets, but the spelling mistakes came during Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' first week. | Getty Education Department flunks spelling

In quoting civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois, the Department of Education on Sunday sent out a tweet misspelling his name. And then it sent out an apology that misspelled the word "apologies."

"Education must not simply teach work - it must teach life. – W.E.B. DeBois," the Department of Education tweeted at 8:45 a.m.


The Twitter account rewrote the tweet over three hours later, correcting the spelling of Du Bois' name, followed by a tweet saying: "Post updated - our deepest apologies for the earlier typo."

That tweet also had a spelling error, with it first saying "apologizes" rather than "apologies."

There's probably never a good time for the Department of Education to misspell words, but the timing seemed particularly unfortunate for two reasons. For one, the misspelling of Du Bois' name came during the middle of Black History Month.

The typos also came during the first week in office for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday. She was a controversial pick that caused a backlash from lawmakers and voters, who bombarded senators with calls and emails to vote against DeVos.

Du Bois (1868-1963) was a civil rights activist throughout the 1800s and 1900s and wrote "The Souls of Black Folk," an influential book about the lives of black Americans after the Civil War and the end of slavery. He was the first African-American to earn a doctorate at Harvard University and was a co-founder of the NAACP.

The mistake sparked backlash from many users on Twitter.

"Normally not into calling out spelling errors on Twitter because we've all been there. But you're the Department of Education. Of America," tweeted Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a candidate for Democratic National Committee chairman.

"Um. You spelled his name wrong. It's DuBois. Happy Black History Month, everybody!" journalist Soledad O'Brien tweeted.

"In the Days of Loose & Careless Logic, We Must Teach Thinkers to THINK." - William Edward Burghardt DU Bois," the NAACP tweeted, adding emphasis to Du Bois' last name.

"#DeBois is #DeMan! Looking forward to him and #FrederickDouglas starting for the North in the #NBAAllStarWeekend #BlackHistoryMonth" tweeted former Education Secretary Arne Duncan.