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The Artistry and Activism of Shirley Graham Du Bois: A Twentieth Century African American Torchbearer

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dc.contributor.advisorEsther M. Terry
dc.contributor.advisorJohn H. Bracey, Jr.
dc.contributor.advisorJames Smethurst
dc.contributor.authorMcFadden, Alesia Elaine
dc.contributor.departmentUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst
dc.date2023-09-22T20:18:48.000
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-26T19:53:51Z
dc.date.available2024-04-26T19:53:51Z
dc.date.issued2009-05-01
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation traces the early origins of Shirley Graham Du Bois, a well known Negro achiever in the 1930s and 1940s, from the decades preceding her birth in 1896 up through the mid-twentieth century when she has reached mid life and achieved a number of successes. It attempts to reclaim from obscurity the significant cultural production that Shirley Graham contributed to American society. Her artistry and activism were manifested in many ways. As a very young woman she conducted, throughout the northern and eastern parts of the U. S., musical concerts extolling the beauty and significance of spirituals. While attending school at Oberlin College, she wrote a musical opera that was regarded during its time as the world's first race opera. In 1936 she assumed the role of Director for the Chicago Black Unit of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP). After the FTP phased out, she attended Yale School of Drama to learn the craft of playwriting, and proceeded to write several plays that were staged and viewed by interracial audiences. As the country prepared for WWII, she was selected to head USO activities in Fort Huachuca, Arizona where the largest aggregation of Negro soldiers were stationed before being sent off to battle. She subsequently became a field secretary for the NAACP during this period of tumultuous change in the nation and the world. The early 1940s would see Graham reach the pinnacle of success during this phase of her life by writing biographies for a national children's audience. This success was short lived due to the political climate of red-baiting that became fashionable during the political reign of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Graham's progressive politics, communist affiliation and marriage to W. E. B. Du Bois placed her on the wrong side of the establishment. Each chapter develops the varying forms her activism took shape in each given situation. Following the example of fore-parents who were politically and socially engaged during their lifetimes, Graham follows suit. Her efforts reveal a woman who educated, inspired and empowered others while demonstrating the different ways one could use her abilities to confront racism.
dc.description.degreeDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
dc.description.departmentAfro-American Studies
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.7275/7jef-dm35
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/39215
dc.relation.urlhttps://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1076&context=open_access_dissertations&unstamped=1
dc.source.statuspublished
dc.subjectActivism
dc.subjectAfrican-American
dc.subjectCommunist
dc.subjectFederal Theatre Project
dc.subjectNAACP
dc.subjectUSO director
dc.subjectDu Bois
dc.subjectShirley Graham
dc.subjectAfrican American Studies
dc.subjectWomen's Studies
dc.titleThe Artistry and Activism of Shirley Graham Du Bois: A Twentieth Century African American Torchbearer
dc.typedissertation
dc.typearticle
dc.typedissertation
digcom.contributor.authorisAuthorOfPublication|email:aemcfadden36610@yahoo.com|institution:University of Massachusetts Amherst|McFadden, Alesia Elaine
digcom.identifieropen_access_dissertations/76
digcom.identifier.contextkey1054038
digcom.identifier.submissionpathopen_access_dissertations/76
dspace.entity.typePublication
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