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."

Du Bois was a prolific writer. She published many biographies on prominent African-American figures, including Frederick Douglass, Paul Robeson and Phillis Wheatley. A political activist, she married W.E.B. Du Bois in 1951 and they worked together to improve the lot of underrepresented groups in the United States, increasingly through their involvement in leftist causes and groups, probably including the Communist Party of the U.S.A. In 1961, they emigrated to Ghana where they lived together until his death in 1963. Du Bois continued to live in Ghana, developing a national telecommunications infrastructure at Ghana Television. In 1966 she left Ghana to live in Cairo, Egypt. Du Bois died of cancer in Beijing, China. For further biographical information, see Gerald Horne's biography, Race Woman: The Lives of Shirley Graham Du Bois (2000).

From the description of Papers, 1865-1998 (inclusive), 1905-1975 (bulk). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 232009062