Great Barrington — More than 60 years after the death of William Edward Burghardt “W.E.B.” Du Bois in 1963, the ninth annual Du Bois Legacy Festival will celebrate the life and legacy of its namesake at various locations throughout Berkshire County Saturday, February 21, through and Monday, February 23.
Born in Great Barrington on February 23, 1868, Dr. Du Bois was a civil rights activist, historian, and sociologist and was the co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the editor of the NAACP’s journal, The Crisis.
In February 2021, the town declared Du Bois’ birthday a municipal holiday. The annual festival is organized by Great Barrington’s W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Committee to recognize that holiday.
Festival Lineup
Saturday, February 21:
A performance of “W.E.B. Du Bois: An American Hero” at Monument Mountain Regional High School on Saturday, February 21, at 5 p.m. The play at Monument Mountain will star Du Bois’ great-grandson Jeffrey DuBois Peck in the title role. In the play, written by New York City-based actor and producer Chad Lawson Cooper, Du Bois is having a conversation with his first wife, Nina Gomer Du Bois, and scientist Albert Einstein. A previous story on the performance was published by The Berkshire Edge on February 3. Click here for ticket information.
Sunday, February 22:
At 11 a.m., a church service honoring Du Bois will be held at Macedonia Baptist Church at 9 Rosseter Street. Special guests will include dance teacher and performer Noel Staples-Freeman, along with Jamemurrell Stanley, Brandon Guillermo, and Harolyn Bowden from the Uprising Dance Theater. The event is free and open to the public.
Monday, February 23:
At 10 a.m., Multicultural BRIDGE (Berkshire Resources for Integration of Diverse Groups and Education) will lead a site tour relating to Du Bois’ history in Great Barrington. For more information, contact BRIDGE.
At 12 p.m., the Mason Library will host an open reading and discussion of Du Bois’ essay “Criteria for Black Art.” Following the discussion, an African dance and drumming performance will be held by Sister Noel Staples-Freeman, Jamemurrell Stanley, Brandon Guillermo and Harolyn Bowden of the Uprising Dance Theater; Darius Johnson of Camp Atwood; and members of the Urban League of Springfield.
At 3 p.m., at the Mahaiwe Perfoming Arts Center’s Indigo Room, vocalists Wanda Houston and MaryNell Morgan-Brown will perform musical interpretations of Du Bois’ “Sorrow Songs” and a keynote address will be given by Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Hutchins Fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute at Harvard University. Moderated discussion will be held at the event with Legacy Committee member Alexandria Russell.
At 6 p.m., Dre’s Global Kitchen will serve dinner at the BRIDGE Solidarity House at 965 Main Street.
“Du Bois was brilliant for his time, and he really clearly saw the problems with our systems in this country,” Multicultural BRIDGE founder and CEO Gwendolyn VanSant, who is also the vice chair of the town’s W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Committee, said in a previous interview. “He gave advice, and he kept trying to teach and educate by leading with a vision of how we could do things better. That still inspires us now because we’re still struggling with many of the same problems in this country that he was dealing with during his time. I think that our country needs to stop stomping out Black history and instead embrace it and be grateful for what our race has done for this country. We have to fight for education for all because I think that a lot of the hate and problems in this world are due to people of all backgrounds having been intentionally mis-educated.”
“What goes through my mind when I think about Du Bois’ legacy? He was a leader that inspired me,” NAACP Berkshires President Dennis Powell said in a previous interview. “Like Frederick Douglass and Fannie Lou Hamer, I draw my strength from what they all did. During their time, they all suffered more hardship than I have ever suffered or ever will suffer. The best way we can honor the past and inspire the future is by not repeating the past. What we are trying to do now in our country is to repeat the past, and we need people who can prevent it. It is only we the people who can stop the nonsense that is going on in our country. In our nation, it is all up to we the people in every state. Our country is not Walmart, and we ain’t rolling back nothing. We are not rolling back history, and that’s how we can appreciate and respect those that came before us by making sure we don’t end up back where we started.”
