W.E.B. Du Bois

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963) led an incredible life and Sistertech is proud to remember him today. Du Bois (he pronounced it “due boys”, not the fussy “due bwah”) was a towering intellect and tremendous champion for the dignity of African Americans and of all peoples.

Dr. David Levering Lewis, in his book, W. E. B. Du Bois, 1919-1963: The Fight for Equality and the American Century sums up the scope of Du Bois’ work this way:

In the course of his long, turbulent career, W. E. B. Du Bois attempted virtually every possible solution to the problem of twentieth-century racism— scholarship, propaganda, integration, national self-determination, human rights, cultural and economic separatism, politics, international communism, expatriation, third world solidarity.

That’s all well and good, but if you really want to know why Sistertech so admired Du Bois you need look no further than his Prayers for Dark People. I have asked the SWAT team to study it as they compose prayers. One of my favorite Du Bois prayers is this one:

Teach us, O God, that NOW is the accepted time–not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best studying can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work and tomorrow comes the harvest and the play-time. May we learn in youth, when the evil days come not, that the man who plays and then works, rests and then studies, fails and then rushes, is not simply reversing nature, he is missing opportunities and losing the training and preparation which makes work and study and endeavor the touchstone of success.  Isaiah 49:8-11

How fitting is Psalm 113:1-7 for remembering W. E. B. today!

Praise the Lord!
Praise, O servants of the Lord;
praise the name of the Lord.

² Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time on and for evermore.
³ From the rising of the sun to its setting
the name of the Lord is to be praised.
⁴ The Lord is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens.

⁵ Who is like the Lord our God,
who is seated on high,
⁶ who looks far down
on the heavens and the earth?
⁷ He raises the poor from the dust,
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,