Whitney Battle-Baptiste, director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Center and associate professor of anthropology at UMass Amherst, will be the keynote speaker at the fourth annual NAACP - Berkshire County Branch Freedom Awards dinner.
“His love of rivers and his dedication to environmental justice play a very small part, but can be a lens through which to understand his fuller achievements. There is no better place in the world to tell this part of the story, at the very spot where he was ‘born by a golden river.’ ”
-- Rachel Fletcher, founder of River Walk
More than 35 singers and dancers rehearsed a performance piece choreographed to the song “We are Here” by Alicia Keys, the oft-repeated refrain of which is a fitting tribute to the nature of Du Bois’ work: “We are here. We are all here for all of us. That’s why we are here.”
UMass professor Whitney Battle-Baptiste and Du Bois' great-grandson Jeffrey Peck will emcee the event, which will also include a short film of the dedication of the W.E.B. Du Bois National Historic Site, a spoken-word performance and a dance piece.
