Shirley Graham Du Bois

Shirley Graham Du Bois was born in 1896. Before attending Yale, she studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and earned a B.A. and an M.A. in music from Oberlin College in Ohio. While there she composed and wrote the libretto for the opera Tom-Tom, which drew on West African music, which she had first encountered while in France, as well as jazz, blues, and traditional European opera. She was the director of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) Negro Unit in Chicago before enrolling at the Yale Drama School in 1938. Although she was unable to finish her Ph.D. and left in 1940, she wrote a number of significant plays while at Yale, including It’s Morning, Dust to Earth, and Elijah’s Ravens, focusing largely on themes of the African-American experience.

In 1943, she began working for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as a field secretary, writing biographies of famous African-American figures. Through W.E.B. Du Bois, the civil rights activist and public intellectual and a longtime friend of her father’s, she became increasingly involved in civil rights activism and joined the Communist Party. She and Du Bois married in 1951; however, they were harassed due to their leftist political leanings. Both were forced out of the NAACP, and Du Bois was placed under federal investigation. In 1961, they gave up their American citizenship and moved to Ghana, where they were involved in the pan-African movement.

Following her husband’s death in 1963, Du Bois continued working under President Kwame Nkrumah’s administration until a 1966 coup forced her into exile in Cairo. After extensive petitioning she was able to return to the United States in the early 1970s, where she continued to write biographies and taught at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Graham died of cancer while on one of her frequent trips to China on March 27, 1977.

Tom-Tom. Self-published, 1932.

"The Survival of Africanism in Modern Music." M.A thesis, Oberlin University, 1932.

I promise. New York, NY: W.C. Handy Music, 1934.

Coal Dust. Self-published, 1939.

Track Thirteen. Self-published, 1939.

Elijah's Ravens. Self-published, 1940.

It's Mornin'. Self-published, 1940.

Dust to Earth. Self-published, 1940.

I Gotta Home. Self-published, 1940.

Dr. George Washington Carver, Scientist. New York, NY: Julian Messner, 1944.

There was Once a Slave ... The Heroic Story of Frederick Douglass. New York, NY: Julian Messner, 1947.

The Story of Phillis Wheatley. New York, NY: Julian Messner, 1949.

Your Most Humble Servant: Benjamin Banneker. New York, NY: Julian Messner, 1949.

The Story of Pocahontas. New York, NY: Grosset & Dunlap, 1953.

Booker T. Washington: Educator of Hand, Head and Heart. New York, NY: Julian Messner, 1955.

Jean Baptiste Pointe: Founder of Chicago. New York, NY: Julian Messner, 1958.

"What Happened In Ghana? The Inside Story," Freedomways 6*, no. 3 (1966).

His Day Is Marching On: A Memoir of W.E.B. DuBois. Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1971.

Paul Robeson, Citizen of the World. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1971.

"The Liberation Of Africa: Power, Peace and Justice," The Black Scholar 2, no. 6 (1971).

Gamal Abdel Nasser, Son of the Nile. New York, NY: Third Press, 1972.

"Review of Destroy This Temple," The Black Scholar 3, no. 3 (1972).

"Confrontation In The Middle East," The Black Scholar 5, no. 3 (1973).

Zulu Heart: A Novel. New York, NY: Third Press, 1974.

"Middle East Report: Where To From Here," The Black Scholar 5, no. 6 (1974).

Julius K. Nyerere: Teacher of Africa. New York, NY: Julian Messner, 1975.

"Together We Struggle; Togeher We Win," The Black Scholar 6, no. 7 (1975).