[Return to River Walk Home Page]

HOUSATONIC RIVER  WALK

W. E. B. DuBOIS RIVER GARDEN 

DEDICATION

Great Barrington-born William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963) became one of the leading writers and civil rights activists of his generation. He taught at Wilberforce University, Atlanta University and University of  Pennsylvania. He was founder and guiding force of The Crisis, the NAACP's journal, from 1910-1934. "From his student days at Fisk, Harvard and the University of Berlin to his editorship of the Encyclopedia Africana at age ninety, Du Bois produced a mountain of scholarship in sociology and history that stands as a monument for posterity," according to a brochure from the Du Bois Archives at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Du Bois often expressed his fondness for Great Barrington; his two children were born here and he often re-visited old haunts including the Burghardt homestead on Route 23 (now a National Historic Landmark) well into the 1950s.

STUDENT PARTICIPANTS

MONUMENT MOUNTAIN REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Kate Bradbury   Olivia Cohen   Aviva Cormier   Nikole Delair   Liza Gennari   Sarah Hewatt
Jenny Kain   Jessica Lamont   Joshua Rolf   Allison Shepardson   Rachel Shepardson   Whitney Shook

SEARLES MIDDLE SCHOOL
Todd Covert's Sixth Grade Science Class
Alanna Cardillo   Caleb Davis   Stephanie Fredsall   Tyeesha Keele   Fred Murnane   Libby Panhorst   Eva Ward

BERKSHIRE COUNTRY DAY SECONDARY SCHOOL
Johanna Blair   Emma Broderick-Scarpa   Debi Kirchner   Lauren Markowitz   Marisha Mitchell
Jessica Ryan   Travis Toole   Dylan Widjionni   Annika Wisswaesser

THE NEW NINTH GRADE AT THE GREAT BARRINGTON RUDOLF STEINER SCHOOL
Caitlin Blau   Simon Brown   Suzanne Fili   Emma Franco-Toner   Tavish Gallagher   Zachary Goldman
Emma Kiely   Austen McQuaite   Victoria Peck   Samantha Stier   Clara Wetmore   Valentia Whitehead

JUBILEE SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA
Jamilah Barnes   Efia King   Paige Lyle   Aliyah Presseley-Qualls


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks to Anthony Barnaba, Ellen Broderick, Danny Brown, Ann Condon, Nonie Crossnohere, Dana Cummings, Barbara and Graham Dean, Ruth Dinerman, Dennis Downing, Rev. Esther Dozier, Bernard A. Drew, Sue Efferin, Karl Finger, Peter and Camilla Flemming, Diane and Ken Fogarty, Jane Furey, Elaine Gunn, John Hadden, Ann Hanchett, Wendy Jensen, Ron Jones, Ruth D. Jones, Christine Kelly, Frederick Lord, Skip Meade, Bob Mills, Ray Murray, Shannon Murray, Ellen Murtagh, Elizabeth Neale, Jim O'Connell, Krista Palmer, James N. Parrish, Karin Passmore, Mark Pieropan, Scott Rote, Sharon Smith, Staveleigh House, Carla and Jenna Turner, Pastor Van, Alice Wislocki, Susan Witt, and Marianne Young.

Special thanks to the Alford Garden Club, Egremont Garden Club, Great Barrington Garden Club, Great Barrington Rotary Club, Thursday Morning Club, Berkshire Country Day School, Monument Mountain Regional High School, Rudolf Steiner School, Searles Middle School, and Undermountain Elementary School. 

The River Walk River Garden was created by: Rich Atwood; Heather Cupo, Plant Euphoria; Monica Fadding, Marconica; Rob Hoogs, Foresight Land Services; Peter Jensen, Openspace Management; Jon Piasecki, Golden Bough; Cindy Roots; Keith Wilkinson, K.W. Konstruction; Riverways Programs; and River Walk's hundreds of volunteers. 

The W. E. B. Du Bois dedication stone of Chester blue granite was created by Allen Williams, Chester Granite, Co. 

Quotation by W. E. B. Du Bois, 1961, used with permission of the family of the late George P. Fitzpatrick. Program cover image courtesy of U.S. Postal Service, 1998. 

The W. E. B. Du Bois dedication is a project of the Great Barrington Land Conservancy and Great Barrington Historical Society in conjunction with Upper Housatonic Valley Heritage Area and with support from the National Park Service.

 

CONTRIBUTIONS  to the perpetual care of River Walk and 
the Du Bois River Garden are tax-deductible and may be sent to:

River Walk
P.O. Box 1018
Great Barrington, MA 01230

(413) 528-3391    river@gbriverwalk.org 


[Return to W. E. B. Du Bois Dedication Proceedings]

[Return to W. E. B. Du Bois River Garden]