author
Shirley Graham Du Bois
1896–1977
A gifted writer, composer, and activist, she built a remarkable career that reached far beyond the famous name she later shared. Her work moved across music, theater, biography, and politics, always centered on Black history, culture, and freedom struggles.
1 Audiobook
There was once a slave ... : The heroic story of Frederick Douglass
by Shirley Graham Du Bois
About the author
Born in Indianapolis in 1896, she became known as a playwright, composer, and author whose work explored Black life and history with energy and purpose. She studied music at Oberlin College, where she earned both bachelor's and master's degrees, and her opera Tom-Tom became one of her best-known early achievements.
Over time, she expanded her work into biography and political writing, producing books for young readers about notable Black figures and taking an active role in civil rights and international anti-colonial causes. Reliable sources also describe her as a director and lecturer, reflecting how wide-ranging her career was.
She married W. E. B. Du Bois in 1951, but her own legacy stands firmly on its own: an artist and public thinker who linked culture with activism. She died in Beijing in 1977, and she is still remembered for the way she brought music, literature, and social justice together.