Great Barrington —The Town of Great Barrington and the W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Committee announced that today’s W.E.B. Du Bois Day Festival program, Monday, February 23, will now be held virtually via Zoom at 3 p.m.
The change has been made to ensure the safety and accessibility of participants while allowing the community to continue honoring the 158th birthday of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois.
Following a weekend of enriching festival events held at Monument Mountain Regional High School and Macedonia Baptist Church, today’s program will continue the Town’s annual observance of W.E.B. Du Bois Day, an official Great Barrington town holiday, through an abbreviated virtual celebration.
The online program will feature readings from Dr. Du Bois’s 1926 essay Criteria for Black Art, along with performances and presentations celebrating his enduring legacy, including:
An African dance and drumming presentation led by Sister Noel Staples-Freeman and Uprising Dance Theater artists Jamemurrell Stanley and Brandon Guillermo
Possible vocal selections by Wanda Houston, recent recipient of the Du Bois Award from the Berkshire County NAACP
A musical interpretation of the “Sorrow Songs” from The Souls of Black Folk by Dr. MaryNell Morgan-Brown, PhD
A keynote address by Rev. Dr. Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Sociology and African American Studies Emerita at Colby College and Hutchins Fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute at Harvard University
Dr. Townsend Gilkes’s scholarship explores African American women, religion, social change, and the continuing legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois across sociology, African American studies, and religious studies. Her keynote will be followed by a moderated question-and-answer session led by Legacy Committee member Dr. Alexandria Russell.
The public is invited to attend the virtual program using the following Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83741942554
The 9th Annual W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Festival will conclude this evening with a dinner prepared by Dre’s Global Kitchen, celebrating African Diasporic culinary traditions, at Solidarity House, 965 Main Street, at 5:30 p.m. for those who can safely travel.
The Town extends its sincere thanks to all partners, sponsors, guests, and members of the W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Committee for helping make this year’s festival meaningful and impactful.
