Shirley Graham-DuBois was a pioneering African American playwright, composer, educator, and political activist whose accomplishments have been overlooked. She wrote the first opera with an all-black cast, held leadership roles in New Deal arts programs and the NAACP, and advocated for racial and gender equality. Later in life, she served as an advisor in Ghana and Egypt before returning to the U.S. to continue her activism and writing until her death. Her biography highlights how she made significant contributions both independently and as W.E.B. DuBois' wife that have been neglected in historical records.

1. Shirley Graham-DuBois Uncovering the life of the “widow”

5. The Artist “ My feeling was that if the other children understood, if they really knew what Negroes did, and what they had contributed; if they really knew about Africa…naturally they would see, and they would understand. Because they didn't know was the reason they acted the way they did.…” -Shirley Graham-DuBois

15. The Activist “… in the final analysis white supremacy has us by [the] throat because the white man has the money. Yet I’ll be damned if I’m sorry.” -Shirley Graham-DuBois after her dismissal from USO

20. The Biographer

25. Kwame Nkrumah, W.E.B. DuBois, Shirley Graham and unidentified man in Ghana,1961

26. Shirley, W.E.B & The Left "There were times when I felt that Shirley had been assigned from the Party to take ... to grab him.” -Kyrle Elkin, friend of W.E.B. DuBois, 1987

31. Life after DuBois “ for the first time in my life I am really part of a dynamic, progressive government which is doing something every day … Africa is leading the way! I am most fortunate and happy to be in the front ranks.” -Shirley Graham-Dubois, 1964

32. Shirley Graham-DuBois led by Kwame Nkrumah at funeral service for W.E.B DuBois 1963

40. Legacy "The many contributions of Shirley Graham have on the whole been neglected in the annals of American theatre history. Graham was one of the few black women, prior to the 1950s, to actively pursue a career in professional theatre as a playwright, composer, designer, and director. " (Perkins 209)