Race Woman - (Lives of Shirley Graham Du Bois) by Gerald Horne (Paperback)

About the Book

"A fascinating account of the extraordinary life of W. E. B. Du Bois's widow: a complex, creative woman who lived a colorful, meaningful life." (Essence) "Horne is the first biographer to grant Shirley Graham Du Bois her due." (Boston Globe)

Book Synopsis

An intriguing study of artist and civil rights activist Shirley Graham Du Bois

One of the most intriguing activists and artists of the twentieth century, Shirley Graham Du Bois also remains one of the least studied and understood. In Race Woman, Gerald Horne draws a revealing portrait of this controversial figure who championed the civil rights movement in America, the liberation struggles in Africa and the socialist struggles in Maoist China. Through careful analysis and use of personal correspondence, interviews, and previously unexamined documents, Horne explores her work as a Harlem Renaissance playwright, biographer, composer, teacher, novelist, Left political activist, advisor and inspiration, who was a powerful historical actor.

Review Quotes

"A fascinating account of the extraordinary life of W. E. B. Du Bois's widow: a complex, creative woman who lived a colorful, meaningful life."-- "Essence"

"Gerald Horne has brought a wealth of detail and insight to the life of Shirley Graham Du Bois, a writer and activist as significant in her own right as for her long and vital companionship with W. E. B. Du Bois."--David Levering Lewis, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of W. E. B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919-1963

"Gerald Horne rescues Shirley Graham Du Bois from historical obscurity and from the shadow of her husband."-- "The Women's Review of Books"

"Horne is the first biographer to grant Shirley Graham Du Bois her due."-- "Boston Globe"

"Horne's writing handsomely communicates the artistic, political and social climate of the world that created the multidimensional Graham Du Bois... You will not want to put it down."-- "Black Issues Book Review"