Forging Freedom in W. E. B. Du Bois's Twilight Years

Contributions by Murali Balaji, Charisse Burden-Stelly, Christopher Cameron, Carlton Dwayne Floyd, Robert Greene II, Andre E. Johnson, Werner Lange, Lisa J. McLeod, Jodi Melamed, Tyler Monson, Eric Porter, Reiland Rabaka, Thomas Ehrlich Reifer, Camesha Scruggs, and Phillip Luke Sinitiere Although the career of W. E. B. Du Bois was remarkable in its entirety, a large majority of scholarship focuses on the first five or six decades. Overlooked and understudied, the closing three decades of Du Boiss career reflect a generative period of his life in terms of teaching, travel, activism, and publications. Forging Freedom in W. E. B. Du Bois's Twilight Years: No Deed but Memory proposes to narrate the political, social, and cultural significance of Du Boiss career during the controversial closing three decades of his life.. Du Boiss twilight years were tremendously controversial: his persistent criticism of the collusion between capitalism and racism and his choice to join the Communist Party in late 1961 raised the ire of many. At the time, Du Boiss strident advocacy of socialism and turn to communism during the Cold War oriented most scholars away from delving into his late career. While only a few scholars have engaged the productivity of Du Boiss later years, the fact is that an anticommunist, antiradical animus has followed Du Bois in the half century since his death. As a result, Du Bois scholarship remains impoverished to the extent that academics neglect his later years. The essays in Forging Freedom in W. E. B. Du Bois's Twilight Years detail selected aspects of Du Boiss later decades and their particular connection to American social, political, and cultural history between the 1930s and the 1960s. While international concerns and a global perspective also fundamentally defined Du Boiss latter years, chronicling his final decades in a US context presents fresh insight into his twilight years. Du Boiss commitment to freedoms flourishing during this period animated the Black freedom struggles war against white supremacy. Ultimately, this book demonstrates that the durability of Du Boiss intellectual achievements remains relevant to the twenty-first century.