H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, to offer remarks at the signing.
NEW YORK, September 20, 2021 –The W.E.B Du Bois Museum Foundation, a leading New York-based international organization, will hold today an official signing of a historic agreement between the foundation and Government of Ghana to transform the current Du Bois Memorial Centre and burial site in Accra, Ghana, into a state-of-art museum complex and world-class destination for scholars and heritage tourists.
Dr. Du Bois, a civil rights pioneer and one of the world’s leading black intellectuals and thinkers, became a citizen of Ghana and resided in the country until his death in 1963. Du Bois’ vision of a continent of free and independent African nations was a major influence on Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah.
The historic agreement will grant authority for the W.E.B Du Bois Museum Foundation to construct a multi-million dollar museum complex to preserve Dr. Du Bois’ legacy over a 50-year period. The complex will be designed by Sir David Adjaye, renowned Ghanaian architect and designer of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
The Du Bois Memorial Centre in Accra where Dr. Du Bois and his wife, Shirley Graham Du Bois, are buried, opened to the public in 1985, but in recent years had required additional upkeep and maintenance. The Du Bois Museum Complex aims to transform the Center and create a living museum that revives the transformative spirit and vision of Dr. Du Bois for a unified ancestral home for Africans in the diaspora around the world. The complex will serve as a historic memorial site where visitors can honour his life and legacy, connect to their cultural and ancestral roots, and serve as an impetus to inspire solidarity between people of African descent.
At the signing, H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, will offer remarks on the significance of the agreement in strengthening historical, cultural, and economic ties between Ghana and the United States and Diaspora Africans. This agreement will build on the government’s “Year of Return” and “Beyond the Return” campaigns that encourage the return of African Diaspora from around the world.
“The Du Bois Museum Complex will usher in a renewed commitment to building an international treasure and historic memorial honoring the legacy of Dr. Du Bois, and fostering unity among the African Diaspora through a vibrant cultural and research center,” said Japhet Aryiku, Executive Director, W.E.B. Du Bois Museum Foundation. Aryiku, a Ghanaian American with more than 40 years of experience in corporate America and the philanthropic community, was inspired at a young age by Du Bois’ writings and ideals.
Speakers at the signing will include leading political, financial, and cultural leaders from the U.S. and Ghana, including Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Republic of Ghana; Japhet Aryiku, Executive Director, W.E.B. Du Bois Museum Foundation; Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University; Kwame Anthony Appiah, novelist and professor of philosophy and ethics, New York University and board member, W.E.B Du Bois Museum Foundation; and Daniel Rose, Chairman, W.E.B. Du Bois Museum Foundation, philanthropist, and leading real estate developer of several award-winning properties.
RSVP: Carol Pineaul, capineau@gmail.com or call 202.321.0570
SOCIALS: Join the online conversation using #DuBoisMuseumSigning
NOTE: Du Bois is pronounced “du boys”.
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ABOUT W.E.B DU BOIS MUSEUM FOUNDATION: The W.E.B Du Bois Museum Foundation is a leading New York-based non-profit organization dedicated to honouring the life, purpose, and legacy of Dr. W.E. B Du Bois. Daniel Rose, a philanthropist and leading real estate developer of major properties serves as the foundation’s Chairman of the Board. Ambassador Harold Doley, Jr. is the foundation’s President. Prominent board members include renowned scholars of the Du Bois legacy Professors Henry Louis Gates, Jr., of Harvard University; Kwame Anthony Appiah of New York University; Emmanuel K. Akyeampong of the Center for African Studies at Harvard University; and Deborah Rose, a Visiting Scholar at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
