On Du Bois's move to Africa - W.E.B. Du Bois

Herbert Aptheker

The opinion has arisen that Du Bois's move to Africa in 1961 was indicative of his giving up the struggle for African-American liberation. Some of the sources conveying this impression may be cited.

Roy Wilkins in his autobiography notes the striking fact that Dr. Du Bois's death had occurred in Accra on the very day of the March on Washington in 1963. He called this to the attention of the assembled hundreds of thousands; a moment of silence then ensued. In this book Wilkins refers to Du Bois's "early fight against Jim Crow," giving the impression that this occurred in the beginning of the twentieth century. Wilkins writes of Du Bois's "self exile" in Ghana, and that he "had chosen another path" to the one he had laid out "at the dawn of the twentieth century."(1) Of course, as Wilkins well knew, Du Bois had served in a leading capacity at the NAACP during and immediately after the Second World War, and was the main organizer of its Appeal to the United Nations presented in 1947.

In a recent biography of Horace Mann Bond, the author conveys an erroneous view of Du Bois in general and states that late in his life, Du Bois "renounced his American citizenship and became a citizen in Ghana."(2)

John Hope Franklin, in an excellent recent book, suggests that Du Bois, in his last years, felt the problem of African-American oppression was "intractable;" that he had "given up on it."(3) and that this explains the move to Ghana.

It is true that after the U.S. Supreme Court, in 1961 reaffirmed the McCarran Act's ban on issuing passports to "communists and communist sympathizers," Du Bois felt discouraged. There exists one letter from him, dated September 13, 1961, where he wrote that he could not "take any more of this country's treatment." He went on to suggest that his friend plan "in time to leave" the United States because he thought "American negroes can't win." Even in this letter, however, with its exceptional dismal conclusion, he urged, "Chin up, and fight on."(4)

Moreover, with that Supreme Court decision--which in effect invalidated the passports of himself and his wife, Shirley Graham Du Bois--he had written, six days later (September 21, 1961) a letter to another friend, telling her that he and his wife were leaving for Ghana on October 5, "to plan an Encyclopedia Africana" and that they "shall be gone several months and perhaps longer."

Indeed, in dictating for the Oral History Project of Columbia University, he stated on May 24, 1960: "I never had the slightest doubt but that we were going to gain our equality here in America."

Du Bois's move to Ghana in October, 1961, must be placed in context. His reference to an Encyclopedia Africana is something that goes back, with him, to 1909. In 1931, with support from the Phelps-Stokes Fund, some work on this idea was begun. Delays ensued, but early in 1945 there did appear a volume entitled Encyclopedia of the Negro: Preparatory Volume, published by that Fund. Its senior editor was Du Bois. A revised and slightly enlarged edition appeared in 1946. But thereafter-perhaps due to Du Bois's increasing move to the left-- nothing further developed. The dream of such an encyclopedia never left Du Bois. When his disciple, Kwame Nkrumah, became President of Ghana, Du Bois took up the concept with full seriousness.(5)

Du Bois and his wife were the guests of Nkrumah when he was installed as Ghana's first president in July, 1960. It was on the occasion of that visit that Nkrumah himself proposed that Du Bois head a project, to be based in Accra, for the production of an Encyclopedia Africana. Despite Du Bois's spoken hesitation, due to advanced age and precarious health, Nkrumah persisted. For the next three years, until death overtook him, developing this project was Du Bois's main concentration.(6)

When the Supreme Court upheld the McCarran Act, it appeared that the passports of Dr. and Mrs. Du Bois would no longer be valid. However, ninety days had to elapse before the Court's decision could be implemented. In the face of this development, Du Bois informed Nkrumah of the problem of coming to Ghana; the plan originally projected called for this to occur at the end of 1961. Nkrumah cabled back: "Come whenever you can; your presence will honor Ghana."

With this, plans went forward. Mrs. Aptheker--then a travel agent--arranged details required for the journey. She and I (and our quite young Bettina) consulted with the Du Boises. Fisk University was wired; would it want Du Bois's library? Yes; that was settled. Certain other books of his and of his wife were shipped to Ghana. His enormous collection of over one hundred thousand letters was a problem. Turning to Fay, Du Bois asked if we could accommodate them. The answer was yes. Our home was not far from the Du Boises' and it had a solid basement. This was arranged--fresh filing cabinets were obtained and the correspondence placed therein (helter-skelter, by the way, but that's another story) and this was delivered to our home, Du Bois remarking: "Herbert, you are going to edit the correspondence, anyway"--something I had agreed to undertake back in 1946.

Then, on October 5, 1961, Mrs. Du Bois, Dr. Du Bois ,and the two Apthekers--with the undersigned driving--were on their way to Idlewild (now Kennedy) Airport.

While at the airport Du Bois was interviewed by the late John T. MacManus for the National Guardian. After explaining the purpose of the trip to Ghana, MacManus asked: "How many volumes do you think will be required?" Du Bois replied that at this early stage he was uncertain; perhaps, he suggested, about ten stout volumes. And how long will this take? asked MacManus. Oh, said Du Bois, straight faced, perhaps ten years per volume. The reply was duly written down. At this point, Du Bois burst into laughter--a moment caught by an alert photographer.(7)

In Ghana the work on an encyclopedia went forward with the active guidance of Alphaeus Hunton, formerly a professor at Howard and later director of the Council on African Affairs; co-chaired by Du Bois and Robeson until killed by the McCarthy witch-hunt. Du Bois had the highest regard for Hunton.

Shortly after settling in Ghana, the Du Boises, perhaps at Shirley Graham's suggestion, decided to apply for a renewal of their passports. For this purpose, they presented themselves to the proper office at the U.S. Embassy. Here the clerk brusquely informed them that their passports were invalid and suggested they should return to the United States.

Shirley Graham had a fierce temper; Du Bois restrained her from physically assaulting this clerk. It was as a result of this experience and at Mrs. Du Bois's suggestion that they inquired of President Nkrumah if they might become citizens of Ghana. The reply was immediate; "Ghana would be honored;" and so it was done.

We have lived to see Du Bois on a U.S. postage stamp. Is there another instance of a communist, of one tried as a "foreign agent," of one summarily forbidden a passport, appearing on a U.S. postage stamp? One wonders if the United States would one day honor a martyr who died fighting slavery. Would the likeness of Nat Turner be appropriate? After all, an African-American has been elected Governor of the state that hanged Nat Turner.

In his last years Du Bois managed to produce the three volumes of his fictionalized autobiography, The Black Flame (1957-1961). His final book, An ABC of Color, contained selections he had made from his writing. It was first published in Berlin, in 1963, and a copy reached him in July, 1963--one month before he died.

Knowing the end was at hand he composed what he called a "Postlude" to his last Autobiography. It closes with these words: "...this is a wonderful America, which the rounding fathers dreamed until their sons drowned it in the blood of slavery and devoured it in greed." But, he went on:

Our children must rebuild it. Let then the Dreams of the Dead rebuke the Blind who think that what is will be forever and teach them that what was worth living for must live again...

These are not the words of a man who had "given up," as we are supposed to believe. "Given up," indeed! Let those who survived him be worthy of such a man; let them persevere in the good fight and gain strength from W.E.B. Du Bois.

NOTES

1. Roy Wilkins, Standing Fast: The Autobiography (New York: Viking, 1982), p. 213.

2. Wayne J. Urban, Black Scholar: Horace Mann Bond (1904-1982) (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1992), p. 162.

3. John Hope Franklin, The Color Line: Legacy of the Twenty-First Century (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1993), p. 36 and p. 38.

4. The source for the quotations in this and the following two paragraphs is: Meyer Weinberg, ed., The World of W.E.B. Du Bois: A Quotation Sourcebook (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1992), pp. 1445.

5. See H. Aptheker, ed., The Autobiography of W.E.B. Du Bois (New York: International Publishers, 1968).

6. This and subsequent paragraphs are based on the experiences of the author.

7. This is among the photographs in Du Bois's Autobiography (cloth edition only) following p. 192.

Herbert Aptheker is editor of the Published Writings ofDu Bois in forty-one volumes; of his Selected Correspondence in three volumes; of four volumes of his hitherto published writings; author of An Annotated Bibliography of the Published Writings of Du Bois;, and of A Literary Biography of Du Bois.

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