The W.E.B. Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan-African Culture sits on First Circular Road in Cantonments, a short walk from the United States Embassy.
Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois lived there during the last years of his life, and he is buried here alongside the ashes of his wife, Shirley Graham Du Bois.
Du Bois was 93 when he moved to Ghana in 1961 at the invitation of the late President Kwame Nkrumah, who asked him to lead the Encyclopedia Africana, a project to document the history and achievements of African people.
He became a Ghanaian citizen and continued working until his death in Accra on August 27, 1963, a day before the March on Washington.
Walter Mosley’s Private Tour of the Du Bois Centre.
For New York State Secretary Walter T. Mosley, the visit was more than a stop between meetings.
He chairs the New York State Commission on African American History and minored in African Studies and African American History at Penn State.
The visit was coordinated by Maurice Cheetham, founder of Diaspora Bridge Consulting, an Accra-based firm that connects diaspora leaders with government, traditional, business and cultural institutions in Ghana.
Meeting key stakeholders was one of Secretary Mosley’s main goals for the trip, and Cheetham built the Du Bois Centre visit into a programme that also included meetings with civic and community leaders in Accra.
Because the campus is under renovation, the bungalow where Du Bois lived was closed to visitors.
Instead, Secretary Mosley was escorted on a private tour of the Centre’s photograph exhibit and its document preservation lab.
The photograph exhibit traces Du Bois’s life, from his years as a scholar and editor in the United States to his final years in Accra.
In the preservation lab, papers, books, and records connected to Du Bois are cared for so they remain available to future students and researchers.
President Jerry John Rawlings opened the memorial on June 22, 1985, after Du Bois’s remains were moved there from Christiansburg Castle in Osu.
Four decades later, the campus is being renovated, and much of the work of protecting Du Bois’s legacy now takes place in its archives and lab.
During the tour, Secretary Mosley also laid a wreath at the tomb of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois inside the mausoleum. Walter Mosley Meets the W.E.B. Du Bois Museum Foundation.
After the tour, Secretary Mosley met with Japhet Aryiku, Executive Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Museum Foundation, the non-profit leading the redevelopment of the Centre.
Formed in 2019, the Foundation works with the Government of Ghana to turn the memorial into a full museum complex with a library, museum, conference centre, art theatre and guest accommodation.
Board members have already contributed to restoring Du Bois’s bungalow, and the next phase depends on a wider fundraising campaign. Diaspora Bridge Consulting arranged the meeting to focus on practical ways New York could support the Foundation’s work.
Discussions centred on how Secretary Mosley could help connect the Foundation with New York philanthropic foundations that fund history, education and preservation; business leaders and diaspora investors with ties to Ghana; and government and civic networks across New York State with an interest in partnerships in Africa.
The New York connection has deep roots. Du Bois built much of his career in New York City, where he helped found the NAACP in 1909 and edited its magazine, The Crisis, for more than 20 years. The Foundation’s partnership agreement with the Government of Ghana was also signed in New York City in 2021.Why It Matters: Du Bois spent his life insisting that the history of African people deserved to be written down, preserved, and taken seriously.
The bungalow in Cantonments is where that argument ended for him, and where it continues for everyone who visits.
Whether the next chapter includes a world-class museum depends on people deciding to show up: travellers who make the trip, donors who fund it, and officials like Secretary Mosley who are willing to open their networks for it.
Visiting the W.E.B. Du Bois Centre: No. 22 First Circular Road, Cantonments, Accra.
The campus is currently under renovation, so check which areas are open before you go. Typical hours are Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
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