Du Bois, Shirley Graham, 1896-1977

Shirley (Graham) Du Bois was a political activist, writer, playwright, and composer. She was born in 1896, the only daughter of five children of David A. and Etta (Bell) Graham. Her father, a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal church, was appointed president of Monrovia College, Liberia, in 1926.

Du Bois had two sons, Robert (b. 1923) and David (b. 1925), from an early short-lived marriage. In 1931 she entered Oberlin College to study music. The following year, her musical drama, "Tom-Tom," was performed in Chicago. It was described by a critic as "the first all-black opera to be produced on a large [scale]." She was later appointed director of the "Negro Unit" of the Chicago Federal Theatre, where she put on successful productions such as "Little Black Sambo" and "Swing Mikado."

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