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

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

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 List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, in 1896, as the only daughter among five children. Her father was an

African Methodist Episcopal The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Methodist denomination based in the United States. It adheres to Wesleyan–Arminian theology and has a connexional polity. It cooperates with other Methodist ...

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 education in the United States, secondary school in Spokane, Washington, United States. Opened in 1912, it is located at 521 W. Fourth Ave. in the Cliff/Cannon, Spokane, Cliff/Cannon ...

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

. 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 Du Bois in 1925. In 1926, Graham moved to

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, to study music composition at the Sorbonne. It was there that she began composing the play ''Tom-Tom''. She thought that the education in Paris 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. Graham and McCants divorced in 1927. Graham served as music librarian while attending

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

as a nonmatriculated student under the tutelage of Professor Roy W. Tibbs. He recommended her for a teaching position at Morgan College which led to her position as head of the music department from 1929 to 1931. In 1931, Graham entered

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

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."Shirley Graham"
''Oxford Companion to African-American Literature,'' 2001, accessed January 18, 2012. In 1936,

Hallie Flanagan Hallie Flanagan Davis (August 27, 1889 – June 23, 1969) was an American theatrical producer and director, playwright, and author, best known as director of the Federal Theatre Project, a part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). B ...

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 ...

, part of President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

. She wrote musical scores, directed, and did additional associated work. She converted ''Tom-Tom'' into a full opera in 1932, and it premiered in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, 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 Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

. 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. Graham briefly worked at the

Federal Theatre 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 ...

before it was shut down in 1939 by a group of anti-communists.

Elizabeth Dilling Elizabeth Eloise Kirkpatrick Dilling (April 19, 1894 – April 30, 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 ...

– 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 hi ...

, 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, Graham worked at the

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

Young Women's Christian Association The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swit ...

(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, in Cochise County in southeast Arizona, approximately north of the border with Mexico and at the northern end of the Huachuca Mountains, adjacent to the town of Sierra Vista. Established ...

. The YWCA supported the Federal Anti-Lynching Law. However, Elizabeth Dilling 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. Dilling's publication of "

Red Channels ''Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television'' was an anti-Communist document published in the United States at the start of the 1950s. Issued by the right-wing journal ''Counterattack'' on June 22, 1950, the pamphle ...

" ultimately launched anti-communist backlash against 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. In 1951, she married W. E. B. Du Bois, the second marriage for both. She was 54 years old; he was 83. After the United States Supreme Court ruled that the State Department could not deny passports to citizens who refused to sign affidavits that they were not communists, Graham Du Bois and Du Bois immediately applied for passports. In 1958, 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 First Conference of Independent Africa States held in 1957. In contrast to this first meeting where o ...

(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 Francis Kwame Nkrumah (, 21 September 1909 – 27 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He served as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast from 1952 until 1957, when it gained ...

as the first president of the newly liberated country. Graham Du Bois and W. E. B. Du Bois later became citizens of Ghana in 1961. Graham Du Bois attended the Second Summit of the

Organization of African Unity The Organisation of African Unity (OAU; , OUA) was an African intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 33 signatory governments. Some of the key aims of the OAU were to encourage political and ec ...

(OAU) in Cairo in 1964 and consulted with

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Islam in the United States, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figur ...

on the efforts of the

Organization of Afro-American Unity __NOTOC__ The Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) was a Pan-Africanist organization founded by Malcolm X in 1964. The OAAU was modeled on the Organization of African Unity, which had impressed Malcolm X during his visit to Afric ...

(OAAU) to get support for the issues inside the US among heads of state, the UN and national liberation movements. Graham announced the start of a course on television screenwriting in

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

to create a group of writers for Ghana National Television. During her first visit to China in 1959, 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 to liberation of all people of color across the globe. The

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

in 1959 commemorated W. E. B. Du Bois by publishing his book ''The Soul of Black Folk'' in Chinese languages. 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 The ''People's Daily'' ( zh, s=人民日报, p=Rénmín Rìbào) is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP in multiple lan ...

'' recognized her as a member of the

World Peace Council The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization created in 1949 by the Cominform and propped up by the Soviet Union. Throughout the Cold War, WPC engaged in propaganda efforts on behalf of the Soviet Union, whereby it criticize ...

and of the national committee for the Association of American-Soviet Friendship. In part influenced by her experiences with Chinese state feminism, Graham Du Bois became increasingly political upon her return to the United States and became the editor of ''

Freedomways ''Freedomways'' was the leading African-American theoretical, political and cultural journal of the 1960s–1980s. It began publishing in 1961 and ceased in 1985. The journal's founders were Louis Burnham, Edward Strong, W. E. B. Du Bois, and i ...

'' magazine. Living in Ghana in 1961, Graham Du Bois and her husband renounced their U.S. citizenship. The United States

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

"kept tabs" on their activities in Ghana. In 1967, she was forced to leave Ghana soon after the 1966 military-led coup d'état, and moved to

Cairo, Egypt Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, where her surviving son David was working as a journalist. There she continued writing, studied Arabic and become a supporter of

Afrocentrism Afrocentrism is a worldview that is centered on the history of people of African descent or a view that favors it over non-African civilizations. It is in some respects a response to Eurocentric attitudes about African people and their hist ...

. Later she moved to China again in the midst of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

. During this time, Graham Du Bois sided with the Chinese communists in the

Sino-Soviet split The Sino-Soviet split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the Cold War. This was primarily caused by divergences that arose from their ...

. She had praised China's music programs in Shanghai and she joined the Bureau of Afro-Asian Writers. Graham Du Bois spent time in

people's commune The people's commune ( zh, c=, p=rénmín gōngshè) was the highest of three administrative levels in rural areas of the People's Republic of China during the period from 1958 to 1983, until they were replaced by Townships of the People's Rep ...

s and with the

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

. 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 died in Beijing, China, in 1977, where she is buried in the

Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery The Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery () is Beijing's main resting place for the highest-ranking revolutionary heroes, high-ranking government officials and, in recent years, individuals deemed of major importance due to their contributions to soc ...

. Her funeral was attended by many important political figures in China, including Cheng Yonggui,

Deng Yingchao Deng Yingchao (; 4 February 1904 – 11 July 1992) was the Chairwoman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1983 to 1988, a member of the Chinese Communist Party, and the wife of the first Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai. ...

, and

Hua Guofeng Hua Guofeng (born Su Zhu (); 16 February 1921 – 20 August 2008) was a Chinese politician who served as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and the 2nd premier of China. The designated successor of Mao Zedong, Hua held the top offices of t ...

, where they honored her as a hero for her internationalism and selflessness. The Communist Party Chairman lay a memorial wreath 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 a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

on March 27, 1977, aged 80, in

Beijing, China Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, and was buried at the

. She died as a citizen of Tanzania, Ghana, and the United States. She had moved from Ghana to

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

after Ghanaian president

was overthrown on February 24, 1966, and became close to Tanzanian president,

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

, and acquired Tanzanian citizenship.

Honors

Her alma mater

Oberlin Conservatory of Music The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music school, music conservatory of Oberlin College, a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the ...

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, commonly known as the Mellon Foundation, is a New York City-based private foundation with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the product of the 1969 merger ...

, 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, Massachusetts

Works

Tom Tom: An Epic of Music and the Negro

After meeting African people 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, within just 3 months. She used music, dance and the libretto to express the story of Africans' journey to the North American colonies, through slavery and to freedom.Linda Ragin, , Books for Blacks Website, 2000, accessed January 18, 2012. Each of the three acts depicts a specific transformation, articulated by at least 6 characters. Act I, set in 1619, portrays a highly exoticized depiction of tribal Africa, which was a standard occurrence in 20th century America. The score mostly consisted of percussion and West African melody approximations. Act II, set in a mid-19th century American plantation, depicts the characters as slaves struggling with conflicts of freedom, nationality, and religion. The score contains elements of African American spirituals and opera repertoire Graham was familiar with. Act III, set around 1920-1930s Harlem, depicts a continued internal and external struggle. Referencing the

Back-to-Africa Movement The back-to-Africa movement was a political movement in the 19th and 20th centuries advocating for a return of the descendants of African American slaves to Sub-Saharan Africa in the African continent. The small number of freed slaves who did ...

, Voodoo Man fails to convince other characters to return to Africa due to internal issues in African American communities and capitalistic greed. The score reflects this era with jazz, blues, cabaret, and even taxi horns. The original program lists eight characters: * Voodoo Man, played by Jules Bledsoe (Baritone) * The Mother, played by Charlotte Murray (Mezzo-soprano or Contralto) * The Boy, played by Luther King (Tenor) * The Girl, played by Lillian Cowan (Soprano) * The Mammy, played by Hazel Walker (Mezzo-soprano or Contralto) * Leader, Preacher, and Captain, played by Augustus Grist (Bass, Baritone) Stage Agent also names Real Estate Man (Bass) and Chairman (Tenor or Baritone). ''Tom Tom'' premiered in

. The opera attracted 10,000 people to its premiere at the Cleveland Stadium and 15,000 to the second performance. In 2019, Lucy M. Caplan came across Graham's works and ''Tom Tom'' caught her eye. This led to a performance of selections of the opera. It has not been fully presented since its premiere for various reasons, possibly most notably being its size. ''Tom Tom'' features a 200 person chorus, a live elephant, and a waterfall on stage. Acts I and II seem completed, but Act III has two different versions in which researchers are unsure which Graham would have intended to be performed.

Further Works

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, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

and

are considered especially interesting. Other subjects included

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...

, and

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite#United S ...

; as well as

Gamal Abdul Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

, and

. With the involvement of

Liu Liangmo , image = 劉良模.jpg , birth_date = 6 November 1909 , birth_place = Ningbo, China , death_date = 8 August 1988 , death_place = Shanghai, China , other_names = , occupation = YMCA leader , alma_mater = Universi ...

, state publishing houses in China translated and published her biographies of Robeson and

George Washington Carver George Washington Carver ( 1864 – January 5, 1943) was an American Agricultural science, agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent bla ...

. One of her last novels, ''Zulu Heart'' (1974), included sympathetic portrayals of whites in South Africa despite racial conflicts. In 1974, Graham Du Bois produced ''Women of New China'', a film which celebrated the 25th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. 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 Julian Messner, Inc. was an American publishing house founded in 1933. Its best-selling books included 1956's '' Peyton Place''. In the 1960s it became a division of Simon & Schuster, and continued as a children's imprint into the 1990s. Hist ...

, 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 ''Pambazuka News'' is an open access, Pan-African e-mail and online electronic newsletter. It is published weekly in English, Portuguese and French by the not-for-profit organisation Fahamu. The word ''Pambazuka'' means "dawn" or "arise" in Kis ...

'', March 16, 2017.
"Graham, Shirley"
''The Broadcast'' 41. * D'Amato, Lilyanna
"The Legacy of Black Classical Music: Shirley Graham Du Bois"
''ClevelandClassical.com'', July 8, 2020. * 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, June 10, 2013. * Harvard University. Du Bois, Shirley Graham, 1896-1977. Papers, 1865-1998 (inclusive), 1905-1975 (bulk). Work and Writings. Musical Scores. "Tom-Tom," Overture - Act III, folders 24f.1-24f.22. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. * Hine, Darlene Clark, ed. ''Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia'', New York: Carlson Publishing, 1993 * National Sawdust. ''BEFORE THERE WAS PORGY: LUCY M. CAPLAN ON SHIRLEY GRAHAM DU BOIS AND TOM-TOM''. ''National Sawdust'', 2022. * Stearns, David Patrick. ''Shirley Graham Du Bois: Rediscovering a Lost Voice Through a Very Grand Opera.'' WQXR Editorial, 2020.

Biography

Death

Honors

Works

Tom Tom: An Epic of Music and the Negro

Further Works

Biographical works

References

Sources

Further reading/links