HARVARD UNIVERSITY
W. E. B. DU BOIS INSTITUTE FOR AFRICAN AND AFRICAN AMERICAN RESEARCH
104 Mt. Auburn Street į Floor 3R į Cambridge, MA 02138-3879
Contact:
Dell M. Hamilton
(617) 495-3611
dhamilt@fas.harvard.edu
For Immediate Release
August 10, 2006
HARVARD'S W. E. B. DU BOIS INSTITUTE COMMEMORATES THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1ST INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF BLACK WRITERS AND ARTISTS
Cambridge, MA. Š On September 19-22, 2006, Harvard's W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research and the Communautˇ Africaine de Culture will commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the 1st International Congress of Black Writers and Artists in Paris. In collaboration with UNESCO, this historic gathering takes places in the famed Sorbonne's Amphithˇ‰tre Descartes.
The first Congress took place on September 19, 1956 at the Sorbonne and brought together writers, artists, and intellectuals from Africa, Europe, the United States, and the Caribbean to discuss the future of black scholarship, culture and art in the world. Amidst a backdrop of the post World War II era, the emergence of the Cold War and the nascent Civil Rights Movement, delegates purposefully chose to hold the event in the Amphithˇ‰tre Descartes, named after one of the leading thinkers of the Enlightenment movement.
While there, delegates discussed colonialism, the emancipation of non-European peoples, race and racism, capitalism and communism, as well as history, literature, and poetry. The original 1956 Congress was also a celebration of fraternity and human solidarity.
This historic event features numerous intellectual discussions and an opening ceremony that includes Mr. Maurice Quˇnet, Rector of the Academy and Chancellor of the Universities of Paris; Mr. Jean-Robert Pitte, President, University of Paris IV; Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Director, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University; Mr. Noureini Tidjani-Serpos, Under Secretary-General for Africa, UNESCO; Mr. Wole Soyinka, Nobel Prize for Literature, President, Communautˇ Africaine de Culture, Goodwill Ambassador, UNESCO; Mr. Edouard Glissant, Writer; Renˇ Depestre, Writer; Mrs. Yandˇ Christiane Diop, Secretary-General of the Communautˇ Africaine de Culture, Director, Prˇsence Africaine.
The original delegates of the 1956 Congress, who are attending the 2006 Congress, will also be awarded the Institute's Du Bois Medal to mark their contributions to culture, scholarship, and art. The medalists include: Fran¨ois N'Sougan Agblemagnon, Gˇrard Bissainthe, Aimˇe Cˇsaire, Bernard Dadiˇ, Renˇ Depestre, Moune De Rivel, Mamadou Dia, Yandˇ Christiane Diop, Marcelino Dos Santos, Edouard Glissant, George Lamming, Ferdinand Oyono, Paulin Joachim, Assane Seck, Bachir Tourˇ, Abdoulaye Wade.
The W. E. B. Du Bois Institute is the nation's oldest research center dedicated to the study of the history, culture, and social institutions of Africans and African Americans. From its inception, the Institute has supported the development of over 250 scholars, including such leading figures as Kathleen Cleaver, Cathy J. Cohen, Thomas Cripps, St. Clair Drake, George Frederickson, Nellie McKay, Arnold Rampersad, Cornel West, Wole Soyinka, and Dorothy Porter Wesley. Today, the Institute awards up to twenty fellowships annually to scholars at various stages in their careers and is home to a variety of research projects that reflect the interdisciplinary complexity of the field. In addition, the Institute is actively involved with the community at large through its W. E. B. Du Bois Society which is focused on the academic development of African American youth.
For more information, please visit: http://dubois-paris2006.fas.harvard.edu
