W.E.B. Du Bois

FAIN: TR-290868-23

Center for Independent Documentary, Inc. (Newton, MA 02458-1341)
Rita Coburn (Project Director: August 2022 to present)

Production of a ninety-minute film exploring the life and legacy of African American intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois (1868–1963).

W.E.B. Du Bois will weave Du Bois' personal and professional biography with the historical and social context of his times, covering nearly a century – from the Emancipation Proclamation, five years before his birth, to the 1963 March on Washington, the day after he died. His writings, from academic journals to national magazines, from prose to poetry, reached a mass audience -- from workers seeking freedom and fairness -- to U.S. presidents grappling with the changing cultural tides -- to the leaders of developing nations. In the film, his writings take center stage, voiced by Du Bois himself or read by contemporary voices and supported by commentary from historians and other scholars. This American sociologist, socialist, historian and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist completed graduate work at the University of Berlin and Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate. He became a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University.