Race Woman: The Lives of Shirley Graham Du Bois [Paperback]

Gerald Horne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0814736483 | ISBN-13: 978-0814736487

One of the most intriguing activists and artists of the twentieth century, Shirley Graham Du Bois also remains one of the least studied and understood. In Race Woman, Gerald Horne draws a revealing portrait of this controvertial figure who championed the civil rights movement in America, the liberation struggles in Africa and the socialist struggles in Maoist China. Through careful analysis and use of personal correspondence, interviews, and previously unexamined documents, Horne explores her work as a Harlem Renaissance playwright, biographer, composer, teacher, novelist, Left political activist, advisor and inspiration, who was a powerful historical actor.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Largely remembered as the widow of W.E.B. Du Bois, Shirley Graham Du Bois (1896-1977) was much more than a faithful caretaker and companion to her legendary husband. As Horne (Fire This Time: The Watts Uprising and the 1960s) reveals in this impressive biography, she was a restless, multifaceted woman. Reared in a strict Calvinist home, the daughter of a minister in Indianapolis, Ind., she understood that a solid education could free her from the limited existence of most women in her time. A youthful excursion into marriage ended in divorce, but not before Graham Du Bois became the mother of two sons. Horne, a Fulbright scholar and professor of history at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, does not judge Graham Du Bois's tortured decision to leave her boys with her parents so that she could conquer the world. After moving to Paris during the wild 1920s, she returned to the U.S. to produce her hit opera, Tom-Tom, then submerged herself in the heady academic atmosphere of Oberlin University. Horne also diligently evokes her political commitment to the civil rights movement, women's rights and anti-colonial struggles in Africa and Asia. Graham Du Bois wanted to control the flow of her life, but all of that changed when she met W.E.B. Du Bois, whom she married in his declining years, while he was under attack from McCarthy's Red hunters. Horne's observations on the couple's final days in Africa in 1963 and Graham Du Bois's subsequent globe trotting, especially her infatuation with Maoist China, are eloquent and rich with telling anecdotes about such figures as Malcolm X, Adam Clayton Powell, Nasser, Nkrumah and Zhou Enlai. Drawing on Graham Du Bois's personal papers and extensive interviews with family and friends, Horne's book may not completely unravel the enigma of Shirley Graham Du Bois, but it gets closer to her heart and soul than any previous attempt. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The lives of Shirley Graham Du Bois, dame extraordinaire, began with an early commitment to uplift her race. Her life roles included that of struggling single parent, musician, playwright, and novelist; successful biographer, activist, and adviser to Ghanaian nationalist leader Kwarme Nkrumah; wife of W.E.B. Du Bois; and, at various times, citizen of the United States, Ghana, and Tanzania. Throughout her life, she worked tirelessly for racial uplift, desegregation in the United States, and African decolonization. Politically, she espoused the ideologies of Soviet communism, Chinese socialism, and leftist nationalism. Relying on extensive research, Horne (Fire This Time: The Watts Uprising and the 1960s) shows how Graham Du Bois handledDsuccessfully or unsuccessfullyDthe conflicts she confronted as a black woman in male-dominated arenas and her personal struggle to resolve her parenting responsibilities with her artistic and political goals. Readers will anxiously anticipate each chapter and will be grateful that Graham Du Bois's amazing and often controversial life has finally been documented. Recommended for both public and academic libraries.DSherri Barnes, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (February 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814736483
• ISBN-13: 978-0814736487
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,022,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a Really Good Book, January 7, 2010

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D. Johnson "DjPhoenix" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Race Woman: The Lives of Shirley Graham Du Bois (Hardcover)

I consider myself to be a W.E.B. Dubois disciple, really. Imagine how surprised I was to learn about the life and legacy of Shirley Graham Dubois, the wife of W.E.B. Dubois. This women was phenomenal!!!! The author brings her history and her voice alive in this well-researched biography. The book started out slow, and I was afraid that it would not be an enjoyable read. It soon picked up, however, and I could not put it down. The writer uses the voice of Ms. Graham - Dubois to tell her story whenever possible. He also has feminist sensibilities in terms of his analysis, which I appreciate a great deal. As such, Horne was able to present a picture of Shirley Graham Dubois which pulled out her from behind the shadow of her famous husband, and which allowed her bountiful talents, accomplishments, and gifts to stand alone, and to reflect a legacy that was all her own. All Americans should know the story of this great woman. Horne provides us with the opportunity to do just that. A great book for Black Women's Studies scholars as well.