Abstract
“Dr. Du Bois’s more than 70 years of struggle, the great body of his writings, speeches and diverse pronouncements, the very example of his consistently active involvement,” David Graham Du Bois wrote in the journal Black Scholar in 1978, “places him in direct confrontation with the objectives of the diabolical oligarchy that rules the United States today.” David Graham Du Bois, W. E. B. Du Bois’s stepson—whose mother Shirley Graham became Du Bois’s second spouse in 1951—felt troubled about his stepfather’s legacy as he pondered the relationship between the US ruling class and the black populations of America and Africa at the end of the 1970s. At the time of his Black Scholar essay, David Graham Du Bois resided in Cairo, and the contemporary question of apartheid in South Africa animated his critique. With this in mind, Graham Du Bois issued a six-point proposal to ensure the enactment of his stepfather’s legacy: a commitment to scientific, research-based facts; a joy in work and occupation; a wide love for all of humanity; an abiding devotion to the betterment of black people; the eradication of racialized capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism; and a purposeful support of socialism and communism. “Those of us upon whom the mantle of Du Bois has fallen … must … confront and expose the distorters of the Du Bois legacy,” Graham Du Bois concluded his essay, “That legacy must be spread among our youth and made the subject of study and emulation.
The author thanks Baba Jallow for the invitation to contribute to this volume and for his encouraging comments throughout the course of the project. Special thanks also goes to Lindsey Swindall for helpful feedback on an earlier draft of this chapter.
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References
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© 2014 Baba G. Jallow
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Sinitiere, P.L. (2014). Leadership for Democracy and Peace: W. E. B. Du Bois’s Legacy as a Pan-African Intellectual. In: Jallow, B.G. (eds) Leadership in Colonial Africa. Palgrave Studies in African Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137478092_8
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