Ghana signs historic agreement for world-class W.E.B. Du Bois Museum

Nàna Akufo-Addo, president of Ghana, has signed an agreement to build a multi-billion dollar complex to honour the legacy of William Edward Burghardt (WEB) Du Bois, a civil rights activist who advocated for a change in the institutionalized and transparent racism in the USA.

The agreement took place in New York City where the WEB Du Bois Museum Foundation is headquartered.

Prior to the signing, Akufo-Addo said: “The museum will provide in Ghana, yet another important monument to the collective struggle of the African peoples to get their rightful place in this world”.

He asked Africans in diaspora to follow the footsteps of Du Bois by making Africa their home and contributing to the continent’s development through the Ghanaian government’s “Year of Return” and “Beyond the Return” campaigns.

Japhet Aryiku, W.E.B. Du Bois Museum Foundation executive director, explained that “the ‘Beyond the Year of Return’ campaign promotes economic empowerment and encourages people in the Diaspora to come to Africa to invest, to live, and to do more to uplift the continent”.

Meanwhile, Daniel Rose, chairman, W.E.B. Du Bois Museum Foundation, assured the president of “our commitment to making your beloved Ghana a hub of Pan-African research and heritage tourism.”

The foundation said the “partnership arrangement will grant authority for the W.E.B Du Bois Museum Foundation to construct a multi-million dollar museum complex to preserve Du Bois’ legacy over a 50-year period.

“The Foundation’s goal is to realize the Du Bois Museum’s full potential as an international treasure and historic memorial honouring one of the leading and most revered black voices in world history.

“The ambitious project features a museum, library and reading room, event hall, outdoor auditorium and amphitheatre, lecture space, guest house for visiting scholars and the refurbished bungalow where Dr Du Bois lived and worked until his death. The complex also includes a Memorial Pavilion, housing the remains of Dr Du Bois and the cremated ashes of his wife.”