A Centenary Celebration of the Publication of W.E.B. Du Bois's Landmark Work

The University of Massachusetts Amherst Library cordially invites the campus community and the general public to its centenary celebration of the publication of W.E.B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk.

Program of Special Events and Exhibits:

Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Guided tour of sites associated with W.E.B. Du Bois in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, with Professor Robert Paynter, Department of Anthropology, an archeologist who has conducted excavations at the Du Bois homesite, a National Historic Landmark.

A bus will leave campus at 10 a.m. and return at approximately 4:30 p.m. Please bring your own lunch; drinks will be provided. For further details and to reserve seats for this free trip, contact the Library Office, tel. (413) 545-0284 no later than April 21.

Thursday, May 1, 2003
Campus Center, Room 163

Morning session, 10 a.m.

Welcome

Musical Selections of the Sorrow Songs, performed here and throughout the program by Horace Clarence Boyer and the Year of Jubilee Four.

Keynote Address
Professor John Edgar Wideman, Department of English

Readings from The Souls of Black Folks
Professor Esther Terry, W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies

Afternoon session, 1:30 p.m.

Welcome Back

Musical Prelude: "Steal Away"

"Du Bois, Religion, and The Souls of Black Folk", Professor Phil Zuckerman, Pitzer College

Musical Prelude: "My Lord, What a Morning"

"A Poet's Sense of the Past: Souls of Black Folk as History", Professor David Blight, Department of History, Amherst College

Musical Prelude: "March On (And You Shall Gain Victory)"

"The Education of Black Folk: The Educational Philosophies of W.E.B. Du Bois", Professor Ernest Allen, W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies

Musical Prelude: "Children, You'll Be Called On (To March in the Field of Battle)"

"Reconstructing the Color Line: The New Economics of Race in the Post-bellum South", Professor Gerald Friedman, Department of Economics

Immediately Following the Program, 10th Floor, Campus Center
Birthday Reception
The audience is invited to stay for a belated celebration of W.E.B. Du Bois's birthday (he was born on February 23, 1868).

Parking
Free parking for attendees will be available in the Parking Garage. Please retain your ticket in order to pick up a validating voucher at the event.

Exhibits
"The Souls of Black Folk: A Centennial Exhibit" is currently on display and will continue through May 9 in Special Collections and Archives, 25th floor, W.E.B. Du Bois Library. It features original manuscript materials of The Souls of Black Folk, photographs, and correspondence from the W.E.B. Du Bois papers, held in Special Collections and Archives.

Artifacts from the Du Bois homesite in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, are also on display in the entrance floor lobby of the Library.

W.E.B. Du Bois Papers
The W.E.B. Du Bois Papers, 1803-1999, document virtually every stage in Du Bois' long career and show his involvement in racial, literary, and social reform movements of the twentieth century. In particular, the correspondence files of well over 100,000 items show his interactions in these areas. The collection contains a few items from his early youth, becomes more substantial for Du Bois's student days in the 1880s and '90s, and the start of his career as scholar and educator at the turn of the century. At their fullest during his period with the NAACP as editor of The Crisis, they remain nearly as extensive from 1934 to 1963, the last thirty years of his life.

Researchers are invited to visit Special Collections and Archives on the web for detailed information including A Guide to the W.E.B. Du Bois Papers, an online exhibit of materials from the collection, and a list of institutions nationwide that hold the microfilm edition of the Papers.

Sponsors
The two-day celebration is sponsored by the University of Massachuetts Amherst Library, W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, Department of History, Office of the Provost, and Office of the Chancellor.

For further information, please contact:
William R. Thompson, Head
Special Collections, Archives and Maps
W.E.B. Du Bois Library
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Tel.: (413) 545-2780
Email: askanarc@library.umass.edu