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The Artistry and Activism of Shirley Graham Du Bois University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Open Access Dissertations 5-2009 The Artistry and Activism of Shirley Graham Du Bois: A Twentieth Century African American Torchbearer Alesia Elaine McFadden University of Massachusetts Amherst, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations Part of the African American Studies Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation McFadden, Alesia Elaine, "The Artistry and Activism of Shirley Graham Du Bois: A Twentieth Century African American Torchbearer" (2009). Open Access Dissertations. 76. https://doi.org/10.7275/7jef-dm35 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations/76 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ARTISTRY AND ACTIVISM OF SHIRLEY GRAHAM DU BOIS: A TWENTIETH CENTURY AFRICAN AMERICAN TORCHBEARER A Dissertation Presented by ALESIA E. MCFADDEN Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2009 W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies © Copyright by Alesia E. McFadden 2009 All Rights Reserved THE ARTISTRY AND ACTIVISM OF SHIRLEY GRAHAM DU BOIS: A TWENTIETH CENTURY AFRICAN AMERICAN TORCHBEARER A Dissertation Presented by ALESIA E. MCFADDEN Approved as to style and content by: ____________________________________ Esther M. A. Terry, Chair ____________________________________ John H. Bracey, Jr., Member ____________________________________ James Smethurst, Member ___________________________________ Joseph Skerrett, Jr., Outside Member ________________________________________________ Amilcar Shabazz, Department Chair W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies DEDICATION To my supportive family and friends who have been longsuffering with me on this odyssey. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Esther M. A. Terry and my committee members for their patience with me on this project. Special thanks to John H. Bracey Jr. who engaged me in conversation early on in the process and always recounted different conversations he had with the person featured in this work. Thanks is also due to Robert Paul Wolff, Femi Richards, Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, Tricia Loveland and all departmental members of the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at large who in different ways informed my thinking and expanded my knowledge. I would also like to thank The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study for funding a part of my research by providing me with a Schlesinger Library Dissertation Grant. The ladies on staff at the Schlesinger Library were most helpful. A special thanks goes out to Sarah Hutcheon for first introducing me to Shirley Graham’s Collection. The staff at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University was also helpful in directing me to several collections that referenced Shirley Graham. Special thanks to Joellen El Bashir and Donna M. Wells. There are many people who assisted me along the way, and to all of those people I say thank you. v ABSTRACT THE ARTISTRY AND ACTIVISM OF SHIRLEY GRAHAM DU BOIS: A TWENTIETH CENTURY AFRICAN AMERICAN TORCHBEARER MAY 2009 ALESIA E. MCFADDEN, B.S., ALABAMA STATE UNIVERSITY M.Ed., UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Esther M. A. Terry This dissertation traces the early origins of Shirley Graham Du Bois, a well known Negro achiever in the 1930s and 1940s, from the decades preceding her birth in 1896 up through the mid-twentieth century when she has reached mid life and achieved a number of successes. It attempts to reclaim from obscurity the significant cultural production that Shirley Graham contributed to American society. Her artistry and activism were manifested in many ways. As a very young woman she conducted, throughout the northern and eastern parts of the U. S., musical concerts extolling the beauty and significance of spirituals. While attending school at Oberlin College, she wrote a musical opera that was regarded during its time as the world’s first race opera. In 1936 she assumed the role of Director for the Chicago Black Unit of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP). After the FTP phased out, she attended Yale School of Drama to learn the craft of playwriting, and proceeded to write several plays that were staged and viewed by interracial audiences. As the country prepared for WWII, she was selected to head USO activities in Fort Huachuca, Arizona where the largest aggregation of Negro soldiers were stationed before being sent off to battle. She subsequently became a field secretary for the NAACP during this period of vi tumultuous change in the nation and the world. The early 1940s would see Graham reach the pinnacle of success during this phase of her life by writing biographies for a national children’s audience. This success was short lived due to the political climate of red- baiting that became fashionable during the political reign of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Graham’s progressive politics, communist affiliation and marriage to W. E. B. Du Bois placed her on the wrong side of the establishment. Each chapter develops the varying forms her activism took shape in each given situation. Following the example of fore-parents who were politically and socially engaged during their lifetimes, Graham follows suit. Her efforts reveal a woman who educated, inspired and empowered others while demonstrating the different ways one could use her abilities to confront racism. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................ v ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................vi CHAPTER 1. A LEGACY OF ACTIVISM: THE GRAHAMS AND BELLS: 1795-1880 ....................................................................................................... 1 2. MODELS OF ACTIVISM IN THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY: THE GRAHAMS: DAVID, LORENA AND ETTA: 1881-1899......................................................................................... 28 3. GROWING UP IN PASONAGES ACROSS THE NATION: 1900-1916 ..................................................................................................... 62 4. EMBARKING ON HER PROFESSIONAL JOURNEY: CHOIR DIRECTOR, SOLOIST, LECTURER 1916-1931 ....................................... 98 5. ETTA BELL GRAHAM: THE SILENT PARTNER AND POWERFUL ROLE MODEL .................................................................... 126 6. FROM OBERLIN TO NASHVILLE: 1931-1935............................................ 152 7. CHICAGO: GRAHAM’S FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT DAYS 1935-1938 ....................................................................................... 175 8. YALE GRADUATE STUDENT: PRODUCING PLAYS TO BE ACTED, NOT JUST READ 1938-1941..................................................... 205 9. FORT HUACHUCA: POLITICS DICTATING ACTIVISM 1941-1942 ................................................................................................... 236 10. “A SHAKY AND UNCERTAIN FOOTHOLD OVER THE YAWNING CAVERN” 1943-1946............................................................ 264 11. SHIFTING FORTUNES AND CHANGING MARITAL STATUS: 1947-1955.................................................................................. 296 12. EPILOGUE....................................................................................................... 333 APPENDICES A MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS .................................................................... 341 B. NEWSPAPERS................................................................................................. 343 viii BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................... 344 ix CHAPTER 1 A LEGACY OF ACTIVISM: THE GRAHAMS AND BELLS: 1795-1880 Andy, Washington, Lucy, Phillip and Mary – are the names of Shirley Graham’s ancestors who have been passed down through printed family history. They were pioneers living in the mid-west during the nineteenth century. Andy, Washington and Lucy -- the Grahams, remained for many years in the southwestern part of Indiana in Gibson County. Phillip and Mary – the Bells, however traversed the western landscape moving from Illinois to Minnesota. Both families migrated to this area seeking better living conditions, for “The Northwest Ordinance of 1787…. predating the Constitution, forbade the extension of slavery into the territory that would give rise first to Ohio and then Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin” (Griffler 14-15). However living in this territory did not make one free of the hazards associated with slavery. Slave hunters regularly crossed the Kentucky border seeking runaways and on many occasions stealing free persons of color and carrying them into bondage. The closer one lived to the frontline, that territory closest to the Ohio River that separated slave territory from free territory, the more danger one was likely to experience, especially if one were black or openly expressed anti-slavery sentiments. The area where it is suspected that the Graham family had its farm was not far from the
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