GREAT BARRINGTON \u2014 With an open hand outstretched to the world, a bronze visage of W.E.B. Du Bois now sits beside the steps of the Mason Public Library.<\/p>\n
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Dr. Imari Paris Jeffries, president and CEO of Embrace Boston, speaks at a ceremony for the unveiling of a sculpture of W.E.B. Du Bois outside the Mason Library in Great Barrington.<\/p>\n
STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN \u2014 THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE<\/a><\/p>\n The statue\u2019s gesture is important to note in this memorial to \u201cthe intellectual father of the modern Civil Rights Movement\u201d in his birthplace, said Imari Paris Jeffries, president and CEO of Embrace Boston<\/a>. At an unveiling ceremony in front of the library on Main Street on Saturday afternoon, Jeffries said viewers wouldn\u2019t find a sword, a closed fist or a flag in Du Bois\u2019 grip.<\/p>\n Rather, contrasting it with the scores of Confederate statues that still stand across the United States, the Du Bois statue would be a monument \u201cnot to war, but to wisdom; not to terror, but to truth; not to erasure, but to W.E.B. Du Bois.\u201d<\/p>\n The open palm of the \u201cSouls of Black Folk\u201d author and NAACP founding member<\/a> is an invitation befitting of the man himself, Jeffries said.<\/p>\n Jeffrey Alan Peck, the great-grandson of W.E.B. Du Bois, unveils a sculpture of Du Bois outside the Mason Library in Great Barrington on Saturday.<\/p>\n STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN \u2014 THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt is peace \u2014 the kind that does not forget violence, but refuses to replicate it,\u201d Jeffries said. \u201cIt is a welcome. It is a gesture that says you belong here, even in a nation that tried to make you feel otherwise. It is solidarity \u2014 the kind that spans centuries, that binds the hands of the living and the dreams of the ancestors. It is an offering of memory and of intellect \u2014 of unyielding belief that Black life contains multitudes.\u201d<\/p>\n A crowd of hundreds gathered in downtown Great Barrington to see the statue three years in the making<\/a> by sculptor Richard Blake for the first time. Julie Michaels and Ari Zorn, chair and vice chair of the W.E.B. Du Bois Sculpture Project<\/a> respectively, led the event off with background on how the effort came to be, while also assuring the crowd that this was a homecoming for a native son.<\/p>\n \u201cRecognition of Du Bois, his work and importance to the true meaning of democracy in America is long overdue,\u201d Michaels said. \u201cWith the dedication of this monument, we welcome him home.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The W.E.B Du Bois statue will be unveiled next weekend. Here’s what to know …<\/a><\/p>\n An array of speakers delivered remarks heralding the statue\u2019s arrival, including former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Du Bois biographer David Levering Lewis and Jeffrey Alan Peck, Du Bois\u2019 great-grandson and a board member of the W.E.B. Du Bois Museum Foundation<\/a>. Many spoke of Du Bois\u2019 impact and legacy as a sociologist, while emphasizing the importance of his lessons in current-day resistance.<\/p>\n Jeffrey Alan Peck, the great-grandson of W.E.B. Du Bois, speaks at a ceremony for the unveiling of a sculpture of Du Bois outside the Mason Library in Great Barrington on Saturday.<\/p>\n STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN \u2014 THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe significance of this event is that we need to uplift my great-grandfather\u2019s radical commitment to justice,\u201d Peck said. \u201cThat we should be inspired by his courage at a time like this.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a celebration equal parts history symposium and multi-disciplinary performing arts showcase, as Wanda Houston joined the Misty Blues for \u201cThis Little Light of Mine\u201d and \u201cHold On\u201d before dancers from Pittsfield\u2019s Youth Alive<\/a> program stepped it up in the aisle leading to the podium.<\/p>\n The Youth Alive Dance Team performs at a ceremony for the unveiling of a sculpture of W.E.B. Du Bois outside the Mason Library in Great Barrington.<\/p>\n STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN \u2014 THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE<\/a><\/p>\n Other selections included a rendition of Aaron Copland\u2019s \u201cFanfare for the Common Man\u201d performed by the brass section of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a solo trombone performance by Craig Harris and a finale of songs by Randall Martin\u2019s Sweet Life Music Project with Carla Page, who concluded the afternoon with Marvin Gaye\u2019s \u201cWhat\u2019s Going On.\u201d<\/p>\n Lewis\u2019 remarks shed light on the complicated relationship between Du Bois and the town, as he recalled Du Bois\u2019 ostracization as a vocal critic of the Cold War and his appeal to the United Nations to redress human rights violations perpetrated against racial minorities in the United States. Du Bois was indicted by the Justice Department in 1951 as a foreign agent, only to be later acquitted.<\/p>\n W.E.B. Du Bois biographer David Levering Lewis speaks at the unveiling ceremony for a sculpture of Du Bois outside the Mason Library in Great Barrington.<\/p>\n STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN \u2014 THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE<\/a><\/p>\n When Lewis first arrived in Great Barrington to research Du Bois in 1985, he shared an anecdote about meeting with a member of the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter, who described him as \u201ca brilliant colored man of whom much had been expected, until years later, his un-American activities had deeply disappointed the town.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlways controversial, Du Bois espoused racial and egalitarian beliefs of such variety and seeming contradiction, as often to bewilder and alienate as many of his countrymen and women as he inspired and converted,\u201d Lewis said, noting that he had previously been praised as a “national treasure” by his contemporaries into the late 1940s.<\/p>\n Hundreds gathered outside the Mason Library in Great Barrington on Saturday for a ceremony celebrating the unveiling of a sculpture of W.E.B. Du Bois.<\/p>\n STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN \u2014 THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE<\/a><\/p>\n The town\u2019s appraisal of Du Bois changed radically over the ensuing decades, as Michaels said the town\u2019s Select Board and Library Board couldn\u2019t have been more supportive of the project when first approached. Alongside Zorn, she thanked them, and a long list of other contributors, toward the end of the presentation.<\/p>\n Former Gov. Deval Patrick speaks at the unveiling ceremony for a sculpture of W.E.B. Du Bois outside the Mason Library in Great Barrington.<\/p>\n STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN \u2014 THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE<\/a><\/p>\n Members of the Berkshire state delegation also came forward, with state Rep. Leigh Davis, D-Great Barrington, reading a letter from Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll before tying the significance of the statue and Du Bois\u2019 work to the story of her and her family.<\/p>\n As the daughter of an interracial marriage, Davis said Du Bois\u2019 meditations on the \u201ctensions between how we see ourselves and how the world sees [us]\u201d in \u201cThe Souls of Black Folk\u201d rang true for her and her father, \u201ca proud Black man from the South Side of Chicago\u201d who taught her to stand tall in both worlds she inhabited.<\/p>\n Rep. Leigh Davis speaks at the unveiling ceremony for a sculpture of W.E.B. Du Bois outside the Mason Library in Great Barrington.<\/p>\n STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN \u2014 THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis monument doesn\u2019t just honor a man,\u201d Davis said. \u201cIt holds up a mirror and asks us who are we \u2014 and who do we want to become? It tells every child, especially every child of color, that they belong \u2014 that their story matters. That greatness can rise from this very soil.\u201d<\/p>\n Gwendolyn VanSant speaks at a ceremony for the unveiling of a sculpture of W.E.B. Du Bois outside the Mason Library in Great Barrington.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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