Free and open to the public, in-person or livestreamed on YouTube

Yolande Du Bois (1900-1961) is often known only as the former, divorced spouse of the queer Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen (1903-1946) or the only daughter of radical civil rights intellectual and activist W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963) who resided in her famous father’s towering shadow. As a result, the impression left is that she is a person upon whom history acted rather than a historical actor who made her own mark upon history. Drawing from recently discovered scrapbooks of Yolande’s that date to the 1920s and 1930s, this presentation will comment on the creative aspects of her artistic endeavors, unveil her experiences as a student at Fisk University, and examine her role as an artist in the Black print culture of the Harlem Renaissance era.

Phillip Luke Sinitiere (pronounced Sin-uh-tare) received a Ph.D. in American history at the University of Houston in 2009. Currently, he is a professor of history and humanities at the College of Biblical Studies, a predominately African American school located in Houston’s Mahatma Gandhi District. In addition, Sinitiere is the scholar in residence at UMass Amherst’s W. E. B. Du Bois Center. He also serves on the editorial board of Global Black Thought, a brand-new peer reviewed journal launched by the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS). A scholar of American religious history and African American Studies, Sinitiere’s latest book is Forging Freedom in W. E. B. Du Bois’s Twilight Years: No Deed but Memory (University Press of Mississippi, 2023). At present, he is finishing a book on the history of W. E. B. Du Bois’s archives (under contract with UMass Press), and a scholarly essay volume on the work of Shirley Graham Du Bois (under contract with the University of Pennsylvania Press).