Oberlin's Women: A Legacy of Leadership & Activism

Shirley Graham DuBois

Shirley Graham DuBois (1896-1977, OC B.A.1934 M.A. 1935) was a prominent music director, playwright, and author. She once stated, “I believe one hundred percent in the artistic potentialities of the Negro. For this I work day and night.” Graham DuBois wrote many plays and operas over the course of her career, including Tom-Tom in 1932 and I Gotta Home in 1939. Between 1936 and 1938, she was the supervisor of the Negro Unit of the Federal Theater in Chicago. Graham DuBois also wrote several biographies about important African American leaders, which she believed would encourage other African Americans to fight for their own dreams. In 1951, she married W.E.B. DuBois, the founder of the NAACP. After the couple joined the communist party, Graham DuBois and her husband renounced their American citizenship. In 1961, they moved to socialist Ghana. After W.E.B. DuBois’s death in 1963, Graham DuBois focused on creating a national telecommunications infrastructure and service in Ghana that focused on African history and culture.

Sources:
Du Bois, Shirley. DuBoisopedia. Accessed February 11, 2020. http://scua.library.umass.edu/duboisopedia/doku.php?id=about:du_bois_shirley_graham

“Eloquence in the cause of freedom.” Yale Alumni Magazine. Accessed February 11, 2020. https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4440-shirley-graham-dubois

Student File (Shirley Graham DuBois), Alumni & Development Records, Box 275, O.C.A.
 

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