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Harvard Du Bois Institute

The W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard University is the nation's oldest research center dedicated to the study of the history, culture, and social institutions of Africans and African Americans. Founded in 1975, the Institute serves as the site for research projects, fellowships for emerging and established scholars, publications, conferences, and working groups. Named after the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard (1895), the Du Bois Institute also sponsors four major lecture series each year and serves as the co-sponsor for numerous public conferences, lectures, readings, and forums.break

http://dubois.fas.harvard.edu/

Black Writers: Andrea Lee and Jamaica Kincaid

Wed, Feb 5, 2003

Authors Andrea Lee, *Interesting Women: Stories*, *Russian Journal*; and Jamaica Kincaid, *Annie John*, *At the Bottom of the River*, *Lucy*, *A Small Place*, *The Autobiography of My Mother*, *My Brother*, read from their work.

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Black Writers: Zadie Smith and Caryl Phillips

Wed, Feb 12, 2003

Authors Zadie Smith, *White Teeth* and *The Autograph Man*, and Caryl Phillips, *The Final Passage*, *Crossing the River* and *Cambridge* will read from their work. ** Zadie Smith**, at age 14, changed her name from Sadie to Zadie, and in 2000, as a 21-year-old Cambridge University graduate, published her first novel, *White Teeth*. In her second novel, *The Autograph Man,* Smith dissects both celebrity culture and mystic Judaism. Smith has now turned to nonfiction, spending a few years stateside as a fellow at Radcliffe College's Bunting Institute. She is at work on a book of essays, *The Morality of the Novel,* in which she considers a selection of 20th-Century writers through the lens of moral philosophy. **Caryl Phillips** was born in St. Kitts on March 13, 1958 and moved to England after just one year. There he took an honors BA at Oxford and began his writing career. Currently, he lives in Amherst where he serves as writer in residence. Phillips was recently appointed as chief editor of the Faber and Faber Caribbean writers' series. Watch ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre's two-part adaptation of Zadie Smith's [White Teeth](http://wgbh.org/program-info?episode\_id=896509) on WGBH Channels 2 and 44.

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Black Writers: Edwidge Danticat and Colson Whitehead

Sun, Feb 23, 2003

Authors Edwidge Danticat, *Krik? Krak!*, *Breath, Eyes, Memory*; and Colson Whitehead, *John Henry Days*, *The Intuitionist*, will read from their work.

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
W.E.B. Du Bois: The Souls of Black Folk

Fri, Apr 25, 2003

The W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University celebrates the centennial of a pivotal publication by inviting the public to hear writers, critics, and members of Harvard's faculty and administration read some of the many memorable passages from The Souls of Black Folk. The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois was published by A. C. McClurg & Co. in Chicago on April 18, 1903. One hundred years later, many still consider this series of essays to be the most influential book written by an African American in the 20th century. Du Bois was the first black man to receive a PhD from Harvard University and was one of the earliest founding members of the NAACP.

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Social Inclusion of Disenfranchised People

Fri, Apr 30, 2004

Benedita da Silva talks about how she has fought to prioritize racial, class, and gender issues within both Brazil's political institutions and the Workers' Party, and how she has opposed discrimination against women and blacks. Note: A translator is present in this lecture to translate from Portuguese to English.

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Africa in the Soul: Continent Severely Wounded

Tue, May 4, 2004

Emmanuel N. Obiechina discusses the upheavals that led to the mass expatriations of millions of Africans.

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Living Black History: Resurrecting Intellectual Tradition

Tue, Apr 20, 2004

Manning Marable describes his theoretical approach to the writing of African history and the construction of black studies, which is directly connected with living history. He argues that oppressed people in the United States generally think about their living history very differently from those closer to centers of institutional power. Because of the difficult circumstances of their lives, the oppressed often celebrate myth over factual accuracy. No black poets have written about Clarence Thomas or Condi Rice, but entire books, films, symphonies, and even an opera have been composed about the life of the heroic figure Malcolm X.

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Giant Steps: Formations of a Black Music Aesthetic

Thu, Mar 18, 2004

Dwight D. Andrews, an accomplished musician, scholar, composer, and minister, describes what we might mean when we talk about "black music."

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Sidney Mintz on Puerto Rico

Thu, Apr 24, 2003

Anthropologist Sidney Mintz discusses the political history of Puerto Rico.

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Sidney Mintz on Jamaica

Tue, Apr 22, 2003

Anthropologist Sidney Mintz discusses the history of Jamaica, as the first lecture in a three-part series on the islands of the Caribbean.

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Harvard Du Bois Institute