African Revolutionary Writers, Part 2
W. E. B. Du
Bois
Dr W. E. B. Du Bois is a legend. How
much is owed to this man’s life’s work is impossible to over-estimate. He began
his political career in the 19th Century and went on through the 20th
Century, eventually dying in independent Ghana, where he had gone to serve the
revolution, although well into his 90s by that time.
Yet in spite of his eminence
and the great amount that he wrote, it has been extremely difficult to find
original documents of Du Bois’ on the Internet, especially documents that
coincide with his leadership, together with Paul Robeson, of the Council on African Affairs.
This organisation was based in New York, following the anti-fascist war of
1939-1945, at the time when the independence of African countries started to
get under way. The first was Libya, on 24 December 1951.
Eventually a friend in New
York sent the two rare documents that can be downloaded via the link below. They
demonstrate the very broad consciousness that Du Bois had, and his tremendous
sense of history and of historical time.
The 1946 letter to the New
York Times is evidence of the unique leadership that Du Bois gave on the
national and colonial question, while the article on M. K. Gandhi shows his
great understanding of all the difficulties.
Du Bois is also particularly
famous for his role as an organiser and participant in several of the five Pan-African Conferences, especially the
last effective one, in Manchester in 1945.
·
The above serves to
introduce the original reading-text: W. E. B. Du
Bois, Two Pieces of His Writing, 1946 and 1956.
