Journey Retraces W.E.B. DuBois' Steps

By Jenn Smith, Berkshire Eagle Staff

GREAT BARRINGTON — While most of their classmates spent winter break hanging out and sleeping in, seven Simon's Rock College of Bard students rushed around to get passports and anti-malaria tablets.

Yesterday, the group, a professor and five community members, bid bon voyage to the Berkshires for a nine-day pilgrimage to Africa. The announcement of the trip was made about a week before final exams ended.

Along with exploring the culture there, the visit will focus on exploring sites in Ghana associated with Great Barrington native W.E.B. Du Bois, a sociologist, author, civil rights leader and founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"I have an extreme interest in Du Bois. I love him," said Chanel Ward, a sophomore women's studies major. "I've been hoping to go to Africa at one point in my life. So I thought, 'Why not now?' "

After an 11-hour flight, the students were expected to arrive today in Accra, the capital of Ghana.

This could mark the first time anyone from Berkshire County has made the trip to link the two towns — Great Barrington and Accra — where Du Bois lived.

Du Bois, who was born in 1868 and died in 1963, left Great Barrington at age 18; he spent the last two years of his life in Ghana.

The trip was organized through local resident Roselle Chartock, a professor of education at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. It stems from a countywide initiative to acknowledge African-American history.

A number of locals have been actively researching local black history to create the African-American Heritage Trail within the proposed Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area.

The town's focus has been largely on Du Bois, who is credited in pioneering the Pan-Africanism movement.

The travelers will spend the last two days of their trip attending special lectures at Du Bois Memorial Center for Pan-African Culture in Cantonment.

There, Chartock will present the center with readings on the African-American Heritage Trail and color photos of all of Great Barrington's historic and current sites related to Du Bois.

Both the community and college groups hope to make a long-lasting connection there. Ideas include fundraising for the memorial center, creating an academic study-abroad program and a student/youth exchange program.

While interviewing six of the young women yesterday, all seemed eager to learn and share their experiences with each other.

Besides the age gap between the students and community members, the students themselves represent a range in ages, majors and backgrounds.

"Everybody who goes on this trip will offer a different insight," said Nuola Akinde, a sophomore black-studies major.

"Traveling breaks down barriers. It enlightens you in a way documentaries can't," said Ashanti Hubbs, a sophomore psychology and pre-med double major.

For senior Mary Ellen Hitt, who is majoring in both cultural studies and photography, this is likely to be her last trip while at Simon's Rock.

She has been traveling for a while and is writing her thesis on studying abroad. She also hopes to help create a better study-abroad program for the college.

"Learning to live in a foreign country enables other parts of yourself," she said. "Here, you tend to live up in your head a lot."

James Sterling King, professor of black studies and literature at the college, said his main goal for the trip is for the students to be safe and have fun.

While there, the students also will choose an aspect of life there to document and create a presentation around.

These projects will be part of a class called "The Way Back: Modern Africa, Slavery and the Diaspora."

Jenn Smith can be reached at jsmith@berkshireeagle.com or at (413) 496-6239.