In the midst of immense difficulties, surrounded by caste, and hemmed in by restricted economic opportunity, let the colored mother of today build her own statue, and let it be four walls of her own unsullied home.”
“The Black Mother,” The Crisis, December, 1912, (V:2) p. 78; The Seventh Son, vol. II (1971)
The above quotation speaks to the value W.E.B. Du Bois placed on the idea of "home" as the ultimate commemorative symbol of the power of African Americans. For him, as for others, a secure place to grow family and community was key, and this is clear too in writings describing his own strong attachments to his mother's Burghardt family homestead in Great Barrington, the boyhood homesite.
Photo by R. Fletcher
So those who would honor Du Bois after his death set out to preserve and sanctify this site of his home. (Read of an earlier, controversial, commemorative ceremony.) Walter Wilson, an original member of the committee who first preserved the property, along with the Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation, worked to acquire the landmark status from the U.S. Department of the Interior and finally, after years of effort since first obtaining the site in 1967, the W.E.B. Du Bois Boyhood Homesite was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
A dedication ceremony organized by Homer Meade and attended by around 1000 people from all over the world, was held on 20 October 1979 at Tanglewood. Julian Bond returned, as the keynote speaker who had also spearheaded the 1969 event. Among others were Xie Qime, from the People's Republic of China; Alexander Quaison-Sackey, permanent representative to the United Nations from Ghana; Walter Wilson; Ruth D. Jones; Randolph Bromery; David Graham Du Bois; Pete Seeger; Michael Thelwell; and William Strickland.
Documented by Donald Victor's photographs, much work was spent readying the site before the committee reconvened on 12 July 1980 to place the new bronze plaque designating the site as a national landmark.
Then in 1987 the property was donated to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as its custodian. During 1983, 1984, and 2003, the homesite has been the subject of intensive archaeological research through the Anthropology Department's Summer Field Schools in Archaeology directed by Robert Paynter.
Read more about African American material culture.
Today, the Du Bois Memorial Committee and the Friends of the Du Bois Homesite continue to advocate for a fitting memorial at the site, which is unkempt, overgrown, and mostly ignored, marked only by the rusted sign now nearly invisible to passersby.
The future looks promising, though, with new designations and commemoration of Du Bois sites apparent throughout the area, the latest of which is the placing of signage just months ago announcing Great Barrington to visitors as the birthplace of the great man. Follow links on the home page to learn more about these local places, the active groups supporting them, and how you can help.
