W. E. B. Du Bois: All signs indicate it’s time to forgive the great man’s flaws
Great Barrington’s longstanding quandary over how to regard its most famous and most complex native son took another step forward Thursday (April 28) when Monument Mountain Regional High School launched the W.E.B. Du Bois Educational Series featuring a keynote address by one of the nation’s leading historians. David Levering Lewis, a distinguished professor of history […]
Signs of better angels in Great Barrington
To the editor: Like most people, I appreciate small things, especially when they impact our lives in meaningful ways. Take, for example, special road signage in Great Barrington. Since 2005, our community has worked together to approve, finance, and place signs at various town entrances announcing “The Birthplace of W.E.B. Du Bois.” I must say, […]
Our Opinion: The evolution of Malcolm X was cut short
The turbulent 1960s were marred by assassinations, which America reflects upon when significant anniversaries arrive. It was 50 years ago Saturday that Malcolm X was gunned down, and like all those prominent figures who died young we wonder what would have been different had they lived. Malcolm X was perceived as the anti-Martin Luther King […]
The post-Civil War roots of Du Bois’ work
Center explores context of a civil rights pioneer’s legacy W.E.B. Du Bois wasn’t born until three years after the Civil War ended, but the war and its aftermath were crucial in shaping the views of one of the nation’s first prominent African-American scholars and civil rights activists. With 2015 marking the 150th anniversary of the […]
Learning to Embrace a Native Son
The little corner of Massachusetts that nestles against the borders of New York and Connecticut in the Southern Berkshires is the site of much history to do with slavery and civil rights. Until fairly recent years, though, not many local people knew about that history. It is possible that they didn’t want to know. The […]
Du Bois Center merits recognition
I am a former Pittsfield resident and though I moved away 40 years ago, I have returned to the Berkshires once or twice each year with my family. Over the course of those years, we have poked into many corners of the county, biked miles of back roads, and joyfully returned to the countless cultural […]
Du Bois comes home from the grave
On Saturday, July 12, officials from the Town of Great Barrington, the University of Massachusetts and local residents are expected to pay their respects at Mahaiwe Cemetery as the great-grandson of W.E.B. Du Bois comes from Colorado to dedicate a headstone to his grandmother, Nina Yolande Du Bois Williams (1900-1961), more than 50 years after she […]
