“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line,” W. E. B. Du Bois wrote in “The Souls of Black Folk” in 1903—a problem that framed his life work from the time he left his Great Barrington home and community at 17 until his death in Ghana, Africa, at 95.
What would he say today, in a week that began with the president of the United States posting a meme of the first African American U.S. president and first lady as apes on his Truth Social account? In a year when voters’ rights and human rights are under attack, food assistance and healthcare are being cut, and the country and world are more divided than ever?
A leader for his time, and a center for ours
W.E.B. Du Bois was a foundational sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, and scholar-writer who revolutionized 19th- and 20th-century thought on race. In addition to being the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard, he was co-founder of the NAACP, editor of The Crisis magazine, and author of landmark works like “The Souls of Black Folk.” A native son of Great Barrington born three days before the Civil War broke out, Du Bois spent his life confronting “racism, poverty, the subordination of women, environmental degradation, the horror of war, and nuclear weapons” while promoting education, civil rights, self-determination for people of African descent, and world peace.
To capture the scope of his influence across the world and over time is a nearly impossible challenge—but one the W.E.B. Du Bois Center for Freedom and Democracy (DFC) takes seriously as it seeks “to educate the public about the life and legacy of civil rights pioneer W.E.B. Du Bois and the rich African American heritage of the Berkshires.” Located in the former Clinton A.M.E. Zion Church (at 9 Elm Court) in Great Barrington, where Du Bois was born and raised, it will serve as a vibrant center of Black thought and remembrance as well as the first museum and living memorial in North America dedicated to his life and legacy.
The Scottsboro Boys traveling exhibit and ‘Reflections on Justice’
In honor of Black History month, as well as Du Bois’ birth (February 23, 1868), the Du Bois Freedom Center is partnering with the Scottsboro Boys Museum to present its traveling exhibit at the DFC field office (309 Main Street) from February 10 through late April. Per its website, the Scottsboro Boys Museum “commemorates the lives and legacy of nine young African Americans who, in the 1930s, became international symbols of race-based injustice in the American South, and celebrates the positive actions of those of all colors, creeds, and origins who have taken a stand against the tyranny of racial oppression.”
The Scottsboro Boys—nine boys ages 13 to 20—were accused of rape by two white women (Victoria Price and Ruby Bates), sex workers who crossed state lines and could potentially have faced federal charges. The accused collectively served a total of 102 years, despite Bates admitting that she had made up the entire story. The Scottsboro Boys Museum was founded by the late Sheila Washington, whose brother died in prison. She and Dr. Thomas Reidy not only established the museum but were also involved in acquiring the 2013 posthumous pardons and initiating the Scottsboro Boys Act (which overturned the previous rule in Alabama that kept deceased people from being pardoned). Their work eventually led to posthumous pardons and full exonerations for all the defendants in 2013.
The Scottsboro Boys trials (1931–1937) resulted in two landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions that fundamentally altered the American criminal justice system by enforcing constitutional protections in state courts. Their cases drew worldwide attention, becoming a catalyst for the civil rights movement and establishing precedents regarding the right to counsel and the exclusion of Black citizens from juries.
Tying in with the exhibit’s opening week, DFC will feature a special public program, “Reflections on Justice: W.E.B. Du Bois, the Scottsboro Boys, and Legacies of Injustice,” on Thursday, February 12, at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center’s Indigo Room (exhibition at 5 p.m.; moderated conversation at 6 p.m.). The conversation—featuring Scottsboro Boys Museum Executive Director Dr. Thomas Reidy and W.E.B. Du Bois Center at UMass Amherst Director Dr. Whitney Battle-Baptiste, moderated by DFC History and Interpretative Fellow Marcus Smith—will explore “Du Bois’s and the NAACP’s involvement in the Scottsboro case, the legal strategies of the Black Freedom Struggle, and their lasting relevance today.” (Reserve tickets here.)
Smith first traveled to the Scottsboro Boys Museum to feature the museum on the Black Grassroots Heritage Preservation Network, which he founded in May 2025 to promote the cultural and historical heritage preservation of Black communities by leveraging digital platforms, advocating for greater access and protection of cultural sites, and amplifying grassroots preservation efforts. “The traveling exhibit was launched in February 2024, creating the possibility of sharing the exhibit beyond Alabama. When I began working at DFC, Assistant Director Ren Carroll reached out to ask if they could bring it here. I presented the proposal to the interim executive director, Dr. John Lloyd, and once it was approved, we began planning,” he explained.
Devoted to issues of justice throughout his life, Du Bois first became involved with the Scottsboro Boys case through the NAACP and Labor Defense Fund. Ruby Bates, one of the two white women who accused the nine boys of rape, had just recanted her testimony and was coming to Springfield, Mass., to speak. Beyond Du Bois’ efforts, the exhibit ties into the Freedom Center’s philosophy of living history—understanding the connection between the 1930s and today to provide insights and help us learn from the past and discuss contemporary concerns through stories of community, conviction, and resilience.
Free screening of ‘The Alabama Solution’
On Friday, February 13, DFC is partnering with the Scottsboro Boys Museum, the Alabama Impact Campaign, and The Triplex Cinema to present a free screening of the award-winning film “The Alabama Solution,” followed by a talkback with two of the film’s producers. The Oscar-nominated film documents the six-year investigation to uncover the human cost of the Alabama prison system using footage shot by the incarcerated using contraband phones, exploring the beating death of inmate Steven Davis and ongoing violence and inhumane treatment of inmates in prisons across the country.
Alabama has one of the deadliest prison systems in American, but directors Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman note, “There are terrible things happening without accountability or public knowledge throughout the U.S. prison system.” Believing that year-long solitary confinement and more than 1,300 deaths represent “a system in collapse that demands public attention,” they view the film and the process of finding a solution as vital to our democracy. “The movie is a screenshot of a broader movement—what is ongoing, not what is finished. The people it focuses on are still fighting,” Smith notes. (Reserve film screening tickets here.)
‘BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions’ screening
Finally, The Triplex, DFC, and Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) are teaming up for a special screening of Kahlil Joseph’s highly acclaimed, genre-bending film “BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions” on Sunday, February 22, at 11 a.m. to celebrate Du Bois’ birthday. This feature-length, docu-fiction project—which begins with Joseph sharing a copy of Du Bois’ “Encyclopedia Africana”—weaves fiction and history in an immersive journey to explore Black culture through an Afro-futurist lens. “By fashioning a kinetic work that pulls together references and sources from Black literature, music, politics, and meme culture, ‘BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions’ stands as a seismic intellectual awakening,” writes Roger Ebert. (Buy tickets here.)
The Du Bois Freedom Center—improving society for all
The Clinton A.M.E. Zion Church in downtown Great Barrington served as a sanctuary and hub for engagement in “faith, fellowship, and activism” for more than a century. While its congregation was small, the church played a large role in the greater community through special events, church suppers, NAACP meetings, and other community gatherings. As this church did a century ago, the Du Bois Freedom Center hopes to be “a refueling place” that informs, empowers, delights, and serves as a beacon in the Berkshires through its visitor center, interpretive exhibits, programs, events, and community spaces.
At the age of 93, Du Bois moved to Ghana to begin writing the “Encyclopedia Africana” (a task he never finished). His life ended on August 28, 1963—on the eve of the Civil Rights March on Washington, where NAACP leader Roy Wilkins proclaimed to a crowd of 250,000 at the Lincoln Memorial: “At the dawn of the 20th century his was the voice that was calling to you to gather here today in this cause.” Du Bois’ legacy can be seen today in the hard work and iron will of all involved with making the Du Bois Freedom Center a reality.
Du Bois had a real and deep connection to this area, notes Smith. “The history we’re showing here at Du Bois Freedom Center is your local history, the struggle your community was involved in.” He continues, “There’s no other place in the country devoted to his legacy—which provides both a mandate and an opportunity for us today. If the people in the 1930s and now in the Alabama Prison System didn’t give up, we shouldn’t either, in confronting systems that seem impossible to overcome.”
His voice still calls us to action today—to confront new and age-old threats to equality, to remember as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. taught, that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Amid rising racism, increasing poverty, diminishing rights, climate change, and intensifying nuclear threats, Du Bois’ example reminds us that “true progress requires active, informed, and sustained efforts to improve society for all, particularly those marginalized by systemic racism.”
For more information on these and other opportunities hosted by the Du Bois Freedom Center, visit their website.
