Carl Van Vechten - Shirley Graham Du Bois

Shirley Graham Du Bois (born Lola Shirley Graham Jr.; November 11, 1896 – March 27, 1977) was an American writer, playwright, composer, and activist for

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

causes, among others. She won the Messner and the Anisfield-Wolf prizes for her works.

Biography

She was born Lola Shirley Graham Jr. in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

, in 1896, as the only daughter among five children. Her father was an African Methodist Episcopal minister and the family moved often due to her father's work in parsonages throughout the country. In June 1915, Shirley graduated from

Lewis and Clark High School Lewis and Clark High School is a four-year public secondary school in Spokane, Washington, United States. Opened in 1912, it is located at 521 W. Fourth Ave. in the Cliff/Cannon neighborhood of downtown Spokane, bounded by I-90 to the north and ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...

. Aptheker, Bettina. "Graham Du Bois, Shirley," in Susan Ware and Stacy Braukman (eds), ''Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary'', Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004, pp. 248–249. She married her first husband, Shadrach T. McCants, in 1921. Their son Robert was born in 1923, followed by David Graham DuBois in 1925. In 1926, Graham moved to

Paris, France Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, to study music composition at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

. She thought that this education might allow her to achieve better employment and be able to better support her children. Meeting Africans and Afro-Caribbean people in Paris introduced her to new music and cultures. Shirley and Shadrach divorced in 1927. Graham served as music librarian while attending

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

as a nonmatriculated student under the tutelage of Professor Roy W. Tibbs. He recommended her for a teaching position at

Morgan College Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a public historically black research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In 1867, the university, then known a ...

which led to her position as head of the music department from 1929 to 1931. In 1931, Graham entered Oberlin College as an advanced student and, after earning her BA in 1934, went on to do graduate work in music, completing a master's degree in 1935. In 1936,

Hallie Flanagan Hallie Flanagan Davis (August 27, 1889 in Redfield, South Dakota – June 23, 1969 in Old Tappan, New Jersey) was an American theatrical producer and director, playwright, and author, best known as director of the Federal Theatre Project, a pa ...

appointed Graham director of the Chicago Negro Unit of the

Federal Theater Project The Federal Theatre Project (FTP; 1935–1939) was a theatre program established during the Great Depression as part of the New Deal to fund live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the United States. It was one of five Federal Pro ...

, part of President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

. She wrote musical scores, directed, and did additional associated work. In 1932 she composed the opera ''Tom-Tom: An Epic of Music and the Negro'' which premiered in Cleveland, Ohio, commissioned by the Stadium Opera Company. ''Tom Tom'' featured an all Black cast and orchestra, structured in three acts; act one taking place in an Indigenous African tribe, act two portraying an American Slave plantation, and the final act taking place in 1920s Harlem. The music features elements of blues and spirituals, as well as jazz with elements of opera. The score of this opera was considered lost and has not been performed since its premiere until it was rediscovered in 2001 at Harvard University. Shirley Graham briefly worked at the Federal Theatre Project before it was shut down in 1939 by a group of anti-communists. Elizabeth Dilling – a white-supremacist and staunch anti-communist – as well as Senator

Robert Rice Reynolds Robert Rice Reynolds (June 18, 1884 – February 13, 1963) was an American politician who served as a Democratic US senator from North Carolina from 1932 to 1945. Almost from the outset of his Senate career, "Our Bob," as he was known among ...

, a Nazi sympathizer and anti-semite, sought to defund the Federal Theatre Project. The Federal Theatre Project eventually was defunded as a result of this anti-communist and racist rhetoric. From 1940 to 1942 Shirley Graham worked at the Phillis Wheatley Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) in

, where she focused on establishing a theatre program and then became the director of the YMCA-USO group in

Fort Huachuca, Arizona Fort Huachuca is a United States Army installation, established on 3 March 1877 as Camp Huachuca. The garrison is now under the command of the United States Army Installation Management Command. It is in Cochise County in southeast Arizona, appr ...

. The YWCA supported the Federal Anti-Lynching Law. However,

Elizabeth Dilling Elizabeth Eloise Kirkpatrick Dilling (April 19, 1894 – May 26, 1966) was an American writer and political activist.Dye, 6 In 1934, she published ''The Red Network—A Who's Who and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots'', which catalogs over 1,3 ...

and anti-communist and white-supremacist groups had claimed that YWCA was a "Communist-front organizations controlled by Jews" and attacked the organization's support for equal rights for Black peoples. Elizabeth Dilling's publication of "Red Channels" ultimately launched anti-communist backlash against Shirley Graham Du Bois, resulting in her work being pulled from libraries and censored. In the late 1940s, Graham became a member of Sojourners for Truth and Justicean African-American organization working for global women's liberation. Around the same time, she joined the

American Communist Party The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

. In 1951, she married W. E. B. Du Bois, the second marriage for both. She was 54 years old; he was 83. In 1958, Shirley Graham Du Bois and her husband visited Ghana, where she spoke at the

All-African Peoples' Conference The All-African Peoples Conference (AAPC) was partly a corollary and partly a different perspective to the modern Africa states represented by the Conference of Heads of independent Africa States. The All-Africa Peoples Conference was conceived to ...

(AAPC), an event held by 62 African National Liberation organizations where she delivered a speech titled "The Future of All-Africa lies in Socialism" where she stated “Africa, ancient Africa, has been called by the world and has lifted up her hands! Africa has no choice between private capitalism and socialism. The whole world, including capitalist countries, is moving toward socialism, inevitably, inexorably. You can choose between blocs of military alliance, you can choose between groups of political union; you cannot choose between socialism and private capitalism because private capitalism is doomed.” In 1960 the Du Boises attended a ceremony in the Republic of Ghana honoring Kwame Nkrumah as the first president of the newly liberated country. Shirley Graham Du Bois and W. E. B. Du Bois later became citizens of Ghana in 1961. Shirley Graham Du Bois attended the Second Summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Cairo in 1964 and consulted with

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of I ...

on the efforts of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) to get support for the issues inside the US among heads of state, the UN and national liberation movements. Graham announced the starting of a course on television screenwriting in Accra to create a group of writers for Ghana National Television. During her first visit to China in 1959, Shirley Graham Du Bois, alongside her husband W. E. B. Du Bois, was commemorated in China for their activism and commitment to Black Liberation, as well as for liberation of all people of color across the globe. The Communist Party of China in 1959 commemorated W. E. B. Du Bois by publishing his book ''The Soul of Black Folk'' in Chinese languages. Shirley Graham Du Bois devoted her time in China to the women's struggle and sought to bridge ties between the proletarian struggle in China with the struggle of Black Americans. The People's Daily recognized her as a member of the

World Peace Council The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization with the self-described goals of advocating for universal disarmament, sovereignty and independence and peaceful co-existence, and campaigns against imperialism, weapons of mass ...

and of the national committee for the Association of American-Soviet Friendship. In 1967, she was forced to leave Ghana soon after the 1966 military-led coup d'état, and moved to Cairo, Egypt, where her surviving son David was working as a journalist. There she continued writing, studied Arabic and become a supporter of

Afrocentrism Afrocentrism is an approach to the study of world history that focuses on the history of people of recent African descent. It is in some respects a response to Eurocentric attitudes about African people and their historical contributions. It ...

. Later she moved to China again during the midst of the “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”. During this time, Shirley Graham Du Bois sided with the Chinese Communists in the Sino-Soviet split. She had praised China's music programs in Shanghai and she joined the Bureau of Afro-Asian writers. Shirley Graham Du Bois spent a good amount of time in Chinese Communes and with the Red Guards. She gave talks at Yale and UCLA in 1970, where she was able to speak on imperialism, capitalism and colonialism and her experiences in countries undergoing Socialist construction, such as China and Vietnam. She also gave W. E. B. Du Bois' writings to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She produced a movie in China called ''Women of the New China'' in 1974. Shirley Graham Du Bois passed away in Beijing, China in 1977, where she is buried in the Babaoshan Cemetery for Revolutionary Heroes. Her funeral was attended by many important political figures in China, including Cheng Yonggui, Deng Yingchao, and Hua Goufeng, where they honored her as a hero for her internationalism and selflessness. The Communist Party Chairman memorial wreaths in honor of Graham Du Bois, as did the embassies of Tanzania, Ghana, and Zambia.

Death

Shirley Graham Du Bois died of

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...

on March 27, 1977, aged 80, in Beijing, China. She died as a citizen of Tanzania, Ghana, and the United States of America. She had moved from Ghana to

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

after Ghanaian president, Kwame Nkrumah, was overthrown on 24 February 1966, and became close to Tanzanian president,

Julius Nyerere Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian anti-colonial activist, politician, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as president from 1962 to 1964, af ...

, and acquired Tanzanian citizenship.

Honors

Her alma mater

Oberlin Conservatory of Music The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music conservatory in Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the second oldest conservatory and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States. It is one of ...

recently honored DuBois offering cluster courses and a conference devoted to reviving her remarkable legacy as a composer, activist and media figure. The conference was called ''Intersections: Recovering the Genius of Shirley Graham Du Bois 2020 Symposium'' on Thursday and Friday, February 27 and 28, 2020, that included a plenary lecture by Columbia professor and author

Farah Jasmine Griffin Farah Jasmine Griffin (born 1963) is an American academic and professor specializing in African-American literature. She is William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African-American Studies, chair of the African Am ...

. The event was co-sponsored by The Gertrude B. Lemle Teaching Center, StudiOC, a grant from the

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitts ...

, Dean of The college, Dean of the Conservatory, History Department, Oberlin College Libraries, Africana Studies Department, and the Theater Department. Her papers are archived at; *W.E.B. Du Bois Manuscript Collection at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts *Federal Theatre Project collection at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia *Washington Conservatory of Music Collection in the Moorland-Spingarn Research Library at Howard University in Washington, D.C. *Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Cambridge, MA

Works

After meeting Africans in Paris while studying at the Sorbonne in 1926, Graham composed the musical score and libretto of ''Tom Tom: An Epic of Music and the Negro'' (1932), an opera. She used music, dance and the book to express the story of Africans' journey to the North American colonies, through slavery and to freedom.Linda Ragin
"Review: Gerald Horne, 'Race Woman'"
, Books for Blacks Website, 2000, accessed January 18, 2012. It premiered in Cleveland, Ohio. The opera attracted 10,000 people to its premiere at the Cleveland Stadium and 15,000 to the second performance."Shirley Graham"
''Oxford Companion to African-American Literature,'' 2001, accessed January 18, 2012. According to the ''Oxford Companion to African-American Literature,'' her theatre works included ''Deep Rivers'' (1939), a musical; ''It's Morning'' (1940), a one-act tragedy about a slave mother who contemplates infanticide; ''I Gotta Home'' (1940), a one-act drama; ''Track Thirteen'' (1940), a comedy for radio and her only published play; ''Elijah's Raven'' (1941), a three-act comedy; and ''Dust to Earth'' (1941), a three-act tragedy. Graham used theater to tell the black woman's story and perspective, countering white versions of history. Despite her unsuccessful attempts to land a Broadway production as many African American women before and after her, her plays were still produced by Karamu Theatre in Cleveland and other major Black companies. Her work was also seen in many colleges and both ''Track Thirteen (1940)'' and ''Tom-Tom'' were aired on the radio. Due to the difficulty in getting musicals or plays produced and published, Graham turned to literature. She wrote in a variety of genres, specializing from the 1950s in biographies of leading African-American and world figures for young readers. She wanted to increase the number of books that dealt with notable African Americans in elementary school libraries. Owing to her personal knowledge of her subjects, her books on

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplish ...

and Kwame Nkrumah are considered especially interesting. Other subjects included

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

Phillis Wheatley Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly ( – December 5, 1784) was an American author who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Gates, Henry Louis, ''Trials of Phillis Wheatley: Ameri ...

, and

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...

; as well as

Gamal Abdul Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

, and

. One of her last novels, ''Zulu Heart'' (1974), included sympathetic portrayals of whites in South Africa despite racial conflicts. Selections from her correspondence with her husband (both before and after their relationship began) appear in the three volume 1976 collection edited by

Herbert Aptheker Herbert Aptheker (July 31, 1915 – March 17, 2003) was an American Marxist historian and political activist. He wrote more than 50 books, mostly in the fields of African-American history and general U.S. history, most notably, ''American Negro ...

(ed.), ''Correspondence of W.E.B. Du Bois''. Shirley Graham Du Bois is the subject of ''Race Woman: The Lives of Shirley Graham Du Bois''.

Biographical Works

Biographies for young readers: *with George D. Lipscomb, ''Dr. George Washington Carver, Scientist'', New York: Julian Messner, 1944, (Library binding has ) *''Paul Robeson, Citizen of the World,'' Connecticut, 1946: Greenwood Press, reprint 1972 *''Your Most Humble Servant: Benjamin Banneker'', New York: Julian Messner, 1949; winner of the

Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Clev ...

in 1950 *''The Story of Phillis Wheatley: Poetess of the Revolution'', New York: Julian Messner, 1949 *''The Story of Pocahontas'', New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1953 *''Jean Baptiste Pointe duSable: Founder of Chicago'' (1953) *''Booker T. Washington: Educator of Head, Hand and Heart'', New York: Julian Messner, 1955 *''His Day Is Marching On: A Memoir of W.E.B. Du Bois'', New York: Lippincott, 1971 *''Julius K. Nyerere, Teacher of Africa'', New York: Julian Messner, 1975 *''Du Bois: A Pictorial Biography'', Johnsons, 1978 Novels: *''There Once Was a Slave'' (1947), the Messner Prize-winning historical novel on the life of Frederick Douglass; and *''Zulu Heart'', New York: Third Press, 1974

References

Sources

* Azikiwe, Abayomi. “Pan-Africanism, Shirley Graham Du Bois and Nkrumah's Ghana: Pambazuka News.” Pan-Africanism, Shirley Graham Du Bois and Nkrumah's Ghana , Pambazuka News, 16 Mar. 2017, www.pambazuka.org/pan-africanism/pan-africanism-shirley-graham-du-bois-and-nkrumah%E2%80%99s-Ghana. *D'Amato, Lilyanna. “The Legacy of Black Classical Music: Shirley Graham Du Bois.” Cleveland Classical, 8 July 2020, clevelandclassical.com/the-legacy-of-black-classical-music-shirley-graham-du-bois/. *Gao, Yunxiang. “W. E. B. AND SHIRLEY GRAHAM DU BOIS IN MAOIST CHINA1: Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race.” Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press, 10 June 2013, www.cambridge.org/core/journals/du-bois-review-social-science-research-on-race/article/w-e-b-and-shirley-graham-du-bois-in-maoist-china1/6E4E596C1F3F4F874B6E8E6EE90F142F. *“Graham, Shirley.” Graham, Shirley , The Broadcast 41, broadcast41.uoregon.edu/biography/graham-shirley. *Hine, Darlene Clark (ed). ''Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia'', New York: Carlson, NY, 1993