September

Civil Rights Act Signed — September 9, 1957
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957—the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. Designed to protect African American voting rights, especially in the segregated South, it created the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Though limited in enforcement, it marked a turning point and paved the way for the sweeping civil rights laws of the 1960s.

W. E. B. Du Bois Papers at UMass Opened — September 19, 1980
Seventeen years after Du Bois’s death, the University of Massachusetts Amherst officially opened his papers to the public. Secured through efforts led by Chancellor Randolph Bromery in the 1970s, the collection brought Du Bois’s intellectual legacy to Western Massachusetts. Today, the archive remains a cornerstone for scholars of Black history and thought.

Atlanta Race Riot — September 22–24, 1906
Over three days in Atlanta, white mobs—spurred by false newspaper reports—attacked Black neighborhoods, killing dozens and devastating businesses. W.E.B. Du Bois narrowly escaped the violence and later captured the trauma in his powerful work “A Litany at Atlanta.” The riot reinforced his belief in organized resistance and exposed the fragility of America’s promises of equality.

Du Bois River Garden Dedicated — September 28, 1980
In Great Barrington, the W. E. B. Du Bois River Garden Park was dedicated at the First Congregational Church, with Dr. David Graham Du Bois delivering the keynote. Du Bois often evoked rivers as symbols of justice and freedom—“born by a golden river,” he wrote of the Housatonic near his birthplace. The River Garden honors that vision, linking racial justice with environmental justice.

August

Anniversary of the Passing of W.E.B. Du Bois (August 27, 1963)

August 27 marks the anniversary of the death of Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois, one of the most influential intellectuals and freedom fighters of the 20th century. He died in Accra, Ghana, at the age of 95, where he had spent the final years of his life in exile, invited by President Kwame Nkrumah to work on the Encyclopedia Africana.

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (August 28th, 1963)

His passing occurred on the eve of the historic Civil Rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at which Roy Wilkins, Executive Secretary of the NAACP, addressed the 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial and proclaimed: “At the dawn of the 20th century, his was the voice that was calling to you to gather here today in this cause." (Starts at 8:30)

Du Bois Given a State Funeral in Ghana (August 29–30, 1963)

W.E.B. Du Bois was honored with a state funeral in Ghana on August 29 and 30, 1963, just days after his death. The ceremonies reflected the high regard in which he was held across Africa and the African diaspora. Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah, who had welcomed Du Bois as a citizen and collaborator, delivered a powerful eulogy calling him a “citizen of the world” and a "great African patriot" whose life was devoted to the liberation of oppressed people.

Dignitaries, scholars, and freedom fighters from across the globe attended the funeral, which was both a political and spiritual affirmation of Du Bois’s lifelong struggle for human rights, Black dignity, and Pan-African unity. His burial in Accra marked a final symbolic homecoming to the African continent. Today, the  W.E.B. Du Bois Centre for Pan-African Culture, located at his former home and burial site, continues to serve as a place of research, remembrance, and pilgrimage for those carrying forward his legacy.