W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Festival

Every year on W.E.B. Du Bois’ birthday, his birth place celebrates his ongoing influence in Civil Rights, American writing, social justice, activism and national change. As a scholar, teacher, co-founder of the NAACP, editor of the NAACP’s magazine The Crisis, writer of essays, fiction and more, DuBois has had a deep and ongoing influence on American thinkers, movers and creative minds for generations.

Marking 90 years since the publication of Du Bois’s groundbreaking work Black Reconstruction, this year’s festival will invite all comers to imagine the legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois – past, present and future.

BRIDGE, Jacob’s Pillow, the DuBois Freedom Center and friends will engage in a dynamic exploration of Black Reconstruction themes and the ongoing fight for civil rights and racial justice, which has been – and continues to be – critical to American democracy.

All events will be held in downtown Great Barrington, highlighting the importance of place, and the historically Black community that nurtured Du Bois’s development in his earliest years, and to which he returned to repeatedly in his memoirs.

Freedom Moves — Saturday Feb 22 at 2 p.m. — First Congregational Church
Dancer and choreographer Gesel Mason and scholartist Dr. Amma Ghartey Tagoe-Kootin lead a workshop on Embodying the Legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois

curated by Committee members Thasia Giles and Gwendolyn VanSant, sponsored by BRIDGE, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival the Town of Great Barrington

Saturday Feb 22 at 2 p.m. – Du Bois Center for Freedom and Democracy Field Office (309 Main St.)

Reception with Freedom Center board and new Interim Director Dr. John Lloyd

Sunday Feb 23 at 9 a.m. – Service at Macedonia Baptist Church

Service and Convocation in honor of Dr. Du Bois with BRIDGE, Reverend Conway and guest Pastor Traci Jackson

Legacy Walk from Macedonia — 9:45 a.m.

Sunday Feb 23 at 11 a.m. — Birthday Celebration Event at Mason Library

‘Imagining Du Bois through the Arts: Past, Present, and Future’

* Reading by novelist Victoria Christopher Murray — whose newest book, Harlem Rhapsody, will be released at a Ventfort Hall Tea & Talk at 3 p.m.
* Presentation by Gesel Mason from Freedom Moves
* Presentation by TED fellow and scholarist Dr. Amma Ghartey Tagoe-Kootin and Dr. Khalil Sullivan of the Buffalo Team
* Moderated discussion w/Committee co-Chair Gwendolyn VanSant
* Reflection on Black Reconstruction. All will have the chance to view an artifact copy of the book from Du Bois’s personal collection on loan from Committee Chair Randy Weinstein
* Song by Committee member Leah Reed
* Remarks by Ari Zorn and Julie Michaels of the Du Bois Sculpture Project

GB Selectboard members and state rep Leigh Davis joins the celebration. A lunch reception will follow.