In honor of Dr. Du Bois, The Center hosted a reception to unveil its Reflections on Democracy theme for 2024 and provide the community with an update on the progress of the restoration and reimagining of Clinton Church.

The Clinton A. M. E. Zion Church building in downtown Great Barrington served as a hub of faith, fellowship, and activism for more than a century. While its congregation was never large, the church played an outsized role in the greater community. Its sanctuary overflowed for special events and the downstairs meeting room hosted church suppers, NAACP meetings, and other community gatherings. For the Black community, it was a place of sanctuary and engagement.

Once open, the Du Bois Freedom Center will return the historic church to the center of public life. As a vital, new public entity, it will serve as a visitor center, an interpretive venue, a hub for African American heritage sites throughout the region, a community meeting space, and a cultural gathering spot offering contemporary programs and performances. As it was for many decades, the building will continue to be a “refueling place” that informs, empowers, delights, and serves as a beacon in the community. Key elements include:

Visitor Center
The visitor center will offer guided tours of African American and Du Bois-related historic sites in Great Barrington, instructions on downloading a narrated, mobile tour of similar sites, and paper maps for 29-town Upper Housatonic Valley African American Trail.

Interpretive Exhibits
Museum-quality interpretive exhibits will incorporate interactive media, an oral history recording booth, and changing displays. While the exhibits will interpret the past, bringing compelling stories from the African American experience to life, they will also resonate with contemporary concerns as they explore stories of community, conviction, and resilience.

Programs and Events
While physical exhibits are a central component of the experience, programming will be equally important. An active schedule of cultural events in the main hall’s flexible performance space will include concerts, films, talks, performances, and other gatherings that highlight African American voices and creative works. Educational programs will engage scholars, writers, and artists.

Community Space
An ADA-accessible basement level will house a community fellowship hall with a meeting space and a small kitchen.

“Visiting the project site brought back many fond memories of times spent at the church with my grandparents. While it will no longer be a consecrated space, it's incredibly moving to know that this part of the history of this community (and my family) is being preserved.

—Kim Powell, granddaughter of Rev. William Durante

The Forum

One of Du Bois’ lifelong dreams was to bring together Black leaders and institutionalize support for their individual and collective work. In addition to scouting land for a possible retreat center in the Berkshires and his participation in the renowned Pan African Congresses, Du Bois convened groups of Black scholars and writers at Troutbeck, the Spingarn estate in nearby Amenia, New York.

Drawing upon this century-old foundation, the Du Bois Freedom Center will support the establishment of a retreat center and forum committed to Black intellectual and artistic traditions. Housed in the first Black institution of Du Bois’ life, the Forum will provide an incubator for scholarly and creative projects; a communal space for individual and collaborative ventures; and a meeting and resting place for writers, scholars, and artists. In this way, it will support and shape the future of Black thought, creative production, and social change.

Distinctive among museums and heritage centers, the Du Bois Freedom Center will engage and deepen relationships between the general public and contemporary scholars, writers, and artists of color. The Center’s multifaceted mission emerges out of several foundational partnerships: the University of Massachusetts Amherst, home of the W. E. B. Du Bois Papers and Du Bois Fellows’ Program, and steward of the W. E. B. Du Bois Boyhood Homesite (a national historic landmark in Great Barrington); Housatonic Heritage and the Upper Housatonic Valley African American Heritage Trail; a planned Du Bois National Historic Site; Tufts University’s African American Trail Project; and Pulitzer Prize-winning Du Bois biographer Dr. David Levering Lewis.