Du Bois: A Pictorial Biography

by Shirley Graham du Bois

The life of William Edward Burghardt Du Bois is recalled through these photographs. This volume shows him at every stage of his life from infancy to the days shortly before his death in Accra, Ghana, at the age of Ninety-five. In his early days as a Harvard graduate student, Du Bois indicated that he wanted to specialize in the study of philosophy. He was urged to study history, as a discipline. However, he became a historian, sociologist, and journalist. In this book, there are highlights of his travels. The devotion, self-sacrifice and commitment of his wife, Shirley Graham Du Bois, is evident in this labor of love.

173 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1979

About the author

One of six children, and the only daughter among them, of an African Methodist Episcopal minister. She moved around often, graduating from Lewis and Clark HS in Spokane, WA in 1915, studied music composition at the Sorbonne in Paris in the 1920s and received her BA at Oberlin College in the 1930s. She had two husbands, including author and activist W.E.B. du Bois. She and du Bois emigrated to Ghana in the 1960s but, after his death, a military coup forced her to move to Cairo, Egypt. In addition to her literature, she also composed a number of musical scores including an opera that premiered in Cleveland, OH, attracting 10,000 people on its opening night.

Married to W.E.B. Du Bois