>>> CIVIL RIGHTS PIONEER W.E.B.
DUBOIS WAS BORN IN GREAT BARRINGTON, MASSACHUSSETTS ON
FEBRUARY 23RD AND ON THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTH, THE
BERKSHIRE COUNTY TOWN IS PAYING TRIBUTE TO ITS NATIVE SON.
DUBOIS WAS A PROLIFIC AUTHOR AND SOME OF HIS WRITING HAS BECOME
SOURCE MATERIAL FOR TED THOMAS, DIRECTOR OF THE W.E.B.
DUBOIS YOUTH ENSEMBLE, WHICH IS AMONG
THE SCHEDULED PERFORMANCES.
THOMAS AND PERFORMER HARMONY PHILLIPS SPOKE WITH ME ABOUT THE
EVENT.
>> THE IDEA HAD ACTUALLY FORMULATED BEFORE I
STARTED WORKING WITH THE GROUP BUT THE IDEA OF WHAT TOILED --D
DO SORT OF HELPED FOCUS THE WORK THEY WERE DOING, THE POETRY THEY
WERE READING AND ALL THAT, MORE CONNECTED TO THE PEOPLE
DELIVERING ELECTURES FOR THE DUBOIS SERIES.
>> LIKE MONUMENT MOUNTAIN?
>> YES, AND THE STUDENTS WERE PULLED FROM THE MONUMENT AND THE
WHOLE IDEA WAS TO BRING THEM TOGETHER, SORT OF UNIFY THEM AS
A GROUP AND THEN FIND, THROUGH RESEARCH, WHAT WOULD BE
APPROPRIATE FOR EACH PERSON WHO WOULD LECTURE AT THAT POINT.
>> FROM THE DUBOIS -- >> AT THE DUBOIS.
>> WELL, THEY ARE VERY PROLIFIC BUT FIRST, I WANT TO BRING YOU
INTO THE CONVERSATION, WHAT INTERESTED YOU IN WORKING WITH
TED IN THE ENSEMBLE?
>> I REALLY LIKE READING.
I LIKE READING OUTLOUD TO PEOPLE ALL THE TIME SO I WAS JUST KIND
OF DRAWN TO IT WHEN SHIRLEY MENTIONED IT TO ME.
>> BECAUSE THE WORK OF THE ENSEMBLE IS SPOKEN WORD POETRY
AND SORT OF ELEVATING THE LANGUAGE OF MR.
DUBOIS, RIGHT?
>> RIGHT.
SPOKEN WORD TO SOME EXTENT BUT ACTUALLY IT IS A COMBINATION OF
SPOKEN WORD AND POETRY I LOVE -- >> BECAUSE POETRY IS IN YOUR
BACKGROUND?
>> YES, EXACTLY AND THE WHOLE IDEA WAS TO INTRODUCE STUDENTS
IN THE ENSEMBLE TO THE LITERATURE OF DUBOIS AND VERY
IMPORTANT POETS AND WRITERS WHO WERE WRITING ABOUT TOPICAL
ISSUES, EITHER CONTEMPORARY POETRY OR CLASSICAL POETRY.
SO TO READ THESE WRITERS AND IMMERSE THEMSELVES IN THAT
LANGUAGE AND THEN TO SAY IT OUTLOUD, TO ACTUALLY FEEL IT AND
PERFORM IT BEFORE THE AUDIENCE I THINK WAS ABSOLUTELY MARVELOUS
AND I STILL DO THINK SO, AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
LIKE HARMONY TO BE INTRODUCED TO THAT WORK, THAT LANGUAGE, AND
OTHERS.
>> SO NOW WE'RE AT THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF
MR.
DUBOIS.
HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THE VAST AMOUNT OF MATERIAL THAT IS
AVAILABLE?
BECAUSE HE DIED WHEN HE WAS 94 AND WROTE ALMOST UP TILL HIS
DEATH.
HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHAT THEN TO WORK INTO THIS PROGRAM THAT YOU
WILL HAVE THE STUDENTS SPEAK?
>> WHAT YOU WILL HAVE TO DO IS MAYBE LOOK AT CERTAIN THINGS
THAT PINPOINT PLACES IN HIS LIFE,
THINGS THAT WERE IMPORTANT TO HIM SO I THOUGHT I WOULD START
WITH THE PLACE OF HIS BIRTH -- >> BARRINGTON.
>> RIGHT, AND THEN THROUGH HIS OWN WORDS, THINGS THAT SHAPED
HIS IDENTITY.
HE WAS HAPPY FOR A WHILE BUT GRADUALLY HE WHAT HE CALLED A
VEIL CAME DOWN AND THAT WAS AN AWARENESS THAT, IN HIS WORDS, HE
WAS DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER KIDS --
>> MEANING HE WAS AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN IN WHAT WOULD
HAVE BEEN OR STILL IS A PREDOMINANTLY WHITE COMMUNITY?
>> IT WAS IN FACT AND THAT IDENTITY SET HIM APART FROM THE
WHITE STUDENTS BUT ALSO I THINK THIS IS CRUCIAL, CARRIE.
IT WASN'T AN IDENTITY VIA WHITE PEOPLE THAT WAS NECESSARILY
COMPLIMENTARY.
IN OTHER WORDS, HE UNDERSTOOD THAT BEING DIFFERENT WAS BEING
THE OTHER AND THE VEIL SEPARATED HIM FROM OTHERS.
EVENT HEE, OF COURSE IN HIS LATER LIFE AND WRITINGS HE WOULD
TALK ABOUT THAT DIFFERENCE BEING EXTREMELY PROBLEMATIC.
>> RIGHT, AND HE WAS A REAL PIONEER IN THAT BECAUSE YOU KNOW
HE WAS BORN JUST AFTER -- A FEW YEARS AFTER SLAVERY ENDED AND
THEN HE WOULD HAVE BEEN WRITING IN THE 1860s AND MOVING
FORWARD.
SO YOU KNOW, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY CONTROVERSIAL MATERIAL FOR
PEOPLE TO HAVE BEEN READING AND INTERESTING NOTE FOR US HERE IN
THIS REGION IS HE WAS A JOURNALIST IN ADDITION TO AN
AUTHOR AND WROTE FOR THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN.
SO HIS MATERIAL WOULD HAVE BEEN WIDELY DISTRIBUTED AT THAT
POINT.
>> MM-HMM.
>> HARMONY, FOR YOU, YOU ARE A STUDENT AND ONE OF THE
INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT THE YOUTH ENSEMBLE IS YOU ARE
CALLING ON YOUTH FROM DIFFERENT HIGH SCHOOLS IN BERKSHIRE
COUNTY.
WHAT IS IT LIKE FOR TO YOU CALL ON THEM FOR A DIFFERENT
PERFORMANCES?
>> IT IS WEIRD BECAUSE EVERYONE HAS A DIFFERENT STYLE OF
SPEAKING AND WHEN YOU WORK TOGETHER AND SEE HOW AMAZING IT
IS, IT IS REALLY COOL.
>> HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO DIG INTO THE MATERIAL YET, SOME OF
THE WORDS WE WILL BE HEARING ON THE 3RD?
>> YEAH, HARMONY AND I WOULD DO AN IMPROMPTU REHEARSAL, SHE WAS
IN THE BACK SEAT, I WAS IN THE FRONT AND AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE.
I TRIED TO USE THE ACTUAL WORDS FROM WHOEVER'S MATERIAL WE WERE
USING.
SO Dr. DUBOIS, WE WOULD USE HIS ACTUAL WORDS WRITTEN ABOUT
HIS CHILDHOOD IN THE BERKSHIRES, TALKING ABOUT THE HILLS AND THE
TRAILS AND THEN HE TALKED ABOUT FEELING SEPARATED FROM THE OTHER
KIDS.
ONE PARTICULAR INCIDENT, HIS CLASSMATES HAD PASSED OUT
GREETING CARDS THAT THEY BOUGHT FOR EACH OTHER.
HE HAD A GREETING CARD AND ATTEMPTED TO PASS IT ON TO A
WHITE GIRL AND SHE JUST LOOKED AT IT AND THAT BECAME CLEAR TO
THAT I AM SHE WAS NOT ACCEPTING THE CARD BECAUSE IT CAME FROM
HIM AND THAT KIND OF THING.
YEAH, AND LATER ON, WHEN HE CONFRONTED REAL RAW RACISM IN
TENNESSEE AND JIM CROW LAWS THAT SEPARATED WHITES AND BLACKS
LEGALLY, AND TO VIOLATE THOSE LAWS, THERE COULD BE SERIOUS
REPERCUSSIONS.
I USED HIS OWN WORDS AND THE WORDS, THE VERY POWERFUL
EXTREMELY SAD WORDS WHEN HE LOST HIS FIRST-BORN SON AND BECAUSE
OF BEING A POET, THERE IS A DESIRE FOR ME TO CONNECT PIECES
OF WHAT HE HAS WRITTEN WITH SOME OF MY OWN WORDS.
>> WELL THANKS VERY MUCH FOR COMING IN AND HAVING A CHAT.
>>> SNOW DAYS ARE A WAY OF LIFE >> THANK YOU.