Image Gallery: Photos of W. E. Burghardt Du Bois in Japan
- Image Gallery:Photos of W. E. Burghardt Du Bois in Japan
Acknowledgement
These photos can be found in the Papers of W. E. Burghardt Du Bois (MS 312), held in the Special Collections and University Archives, W. E. B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts-Amherst. They are reproduced here courtesy of Special Collections and University Archives of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with the kind consent of the David Graham Du Bois Trust, all rights reserved. [End Page 227]
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A poster that announced a lecture by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois in Kobe and Osaka, Japan, in December 1936, placed above bound first editions of the books authored by him on a desk in the living room of his home at 31 Grace Court, Brooklyn Heights, New York, in 1957. Photograph taken by Jack Lessinger.*
REPRODUCED BY COURTESY OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES, W. E. B. DU BOIS LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS-AMHERST LIBRARIES.
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W. E. Burghardt Du Bois with the Doshisha International Relations Club, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan, December 1936. The verso of the photo shows eleven names signed as on a traditional shekishi (a kind of memorial, on special paper or a photograph, comprised of one or more autographs, in this case written in a circle), two of which are essentially illegible, two of which are in roman script and in Western order (given name precedes family name), and seven of which are in Japanese script, kanji: Y. Hayama, Masaru Fujisawa, Seihachi Yamauchi, Isamu Miyake, [illegible], Suguru Kinoshita, Fujio Ka'no, Yo Watanabe, [illegible], Ryuhei Fukao, S. Matsui. I thank Koji Takenaka for assistance with the transcription of the names written in kanji.
REPRODUCED BY COURTESY OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES, W. E. B. DU BOIS LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS-AMHERST LIBRARIES.
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W. E. Burghardt Du Bois in a group portrait with attendees at a luncheon in his honor held by the Pan-Pacific Club, Tokyo, Japan, December 11, 1936. Counterclockwise from the front row (names are as given in roman script on the verso of the photograph): Matsuyama (Member of Parliament); W. E. Burghardt Du Bois; Kiichi Miyake (Tokyo Imperial University); M. Kasai; Furuta; Murokami; Iwamura; Kosoki; F. Omura; T. Miyakoda; Murakami; S. Kojima; Kozaba; K. Ohki; C. J. (Chiyokichi) Tagashira.**
REPRODUCED BY COURTESY OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES, W. E. B. DU BOIS LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS-AMHERST LIBRARIES.
[End Page 230]
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W. E. Burghardt Du Bois at a dinner party in his honor, Tokyo, Japan, December, 1936.***
REPRODUCED BY COURTESY OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES, W. E. B. DU BOIS LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS-AMHERST LIBRARIES.
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Footnotes
* The writing in Japanese script on the poster can be translated into English as: "An Announcement to Faculty, Staff, and Students. We hope many of you will attend a special lecture that will be held as follows. [Notice] Lecture Title: The Future of the Black Race (an English lecture). Atlanta University in the United States of America. Professor of Sociology. Lecturer: Mr. Du Bois. The Date and Time: November 16, Monday, 4:15 p.m. The Place: The Lecture Hall No. 5. [Dated] November 14. President." I thank Azusa Nishimoto for assistance with this translation. NB: Although the date on the poster was given as the middle of November (perhaps prepared in anticipation of Du Bois's arrival, possibly for a lecture at Kobe College, an historic all-women's institution in Kobe, Japan), Du Bois apparently lectured in the Kansai area of Japan (the western region of Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto) only in the first week of December 1936. Also, it appears that the book lying on the desktop in this photo is The Ordeal of Mansart, the first volume of The Black Flame Trilogy, published in March, 1957.
**. A good portion of Du Bois's itinerary in Tokyo, including this event, was coordinated locally by C. J. (Chiyokichi) Tagashira (pictured in the far right of the...
