Born on November 11, 1896, Shirley Graham Du Bois was a pioneering African American writer, composer, historian, and civil rights activist whose voice helped shape the cultural and political landscape of the twentieth century.
In 1961, she traveled to Ghana with her husband, the legendary scholar and Pan-Africanist Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois, at the invitation of President Kwame Nkrumah. While Dr. Du Bois laid the intellectual foundation of Pan-Africanism, Shirley gave it rhythm, colour, and voice.
She played a key role in introducing television to Ghana and worked closely with President Kwame Nkrumah to build a new national broadcast identity.
She later became Ghana’s first woman to direct the nation’s television service (Ghana Television), using
media to celebrate African identity and independence.
In her own right, Shirley set remarkable records. She was the first African American woman to write and produce an all-Black opera, Tom-Tom: An Epic of Music and the Negro (1932).
She was also among the first Black women to earn a master’s degree from
Oberlin College and one of the earliest to publish widely read biographies of Black heroes such as Frederick Douglass and Paul Robeson.
Her books were later included in U.S. school curricula in the 1940s.
Her final years were spent in China, where she continued to champion peace and equality until her passing in 1977.
Today, her ashes rest beside her husband’s at the W. E. B. Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan-African Culture in Accra, a lasting symbol of their shared dream of a united and liberated Africa.
