Dear BRIDGE Supporters,
First, we want to thank our clients, partners, sponsors, volunteers and board members for supporting our organization and our racial justice campaigns! Without you, we could not provide education and support the way we have!

“As you live, believe in Life! Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader and fuller life.” says Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois.

“Life’s most persistent question is what are you doing for others,” reminds Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We want to share the videos and articles regarding the Town’s third annual W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Festival. It is a result of decades of tireless work to honor our Berkshire native activist and scholar! Du Bois was the first Black man to receive a PhD from Harvard and initiated so many more civil rights actions. Great Barrington had a weekend Festival with guests from Atlanta, St. Croix and New Jersey join us with Dr. Du Bois’ great-grandson Jeffrey Peck. BRIDGE was a proud sponsor and partner and we are grateful to our network of volunteers for helping the Festival be a success! Thank you to Dr. Emily Williams, BRIDGE Senior Education and Engagement Director, and Town of Great Barrington Du Bois Legacy Committee member for inviting her colleagues to lift up the enduring legacy of Dr. Du Bois! 

We gave out 200+ copies of Souls of Black Folk with the introduction by Ibram Kendi for the 150th-anniversary edition. And thank you to Donna Gouger and Dr. MaryNell Morgan for joining Bob Paynter and our Legacy Committee for a musical book club uplifting Dr. Du Bois!

See selected news coverage:

• WAMC: Great Barrington Holding Third Annual Du Bois Birthday Celebration
• SF Examiner: Zaccho Dance Theatre takes on race, identity, injustice

Tanekwah Hinds, Racial Justice Community Advocate at the ACLU of Massachusetts,  works with Rahsaan Hall, the Director of the Racial Justice Program, to create partnerships and advocacy opportunities for communities of color. Their campaign What a Difference a DA Makes is a public education campaign that seeks to highlight the key role of district attorneys in criminal justice reform. Through this campaign, ACLU is organizing community convenings across the state to gather community leaders who support individuals disproportionately affected by the criminal legal system.

The purpose of the event is to provide a space for leaders to network, identify challenges of their respective communities, and create actionable steps for District Attorney accountability and public education. BRIDGE and the Race Task Force are thrilled to partner and to co-organize the Berkshire County Community Convening on March 17 6-8pm at the Berkshire Athenaeum, 1 Wendell Avenue, Pittsfield, MA 01201. 

March 14th, join Yuyi Morales at Norman Rockwell Museum for a fun afternoon with BRIDGE and other Berkshire residents.

IDEA Institute:
We are happy to host the IDEA Institute @ BRIDGE for our Train-the-Trainer in Cultural Competence and Facilitation. If you have benefited from BRIDGE training and would like to share that experience with your workplace and communities and/or join the BRIDGE facilitation team, fill out this application here. And save the dates!

We want to thank Jacob's Pillow for partnering with BRIDGE for the Town of Great Barrington Du Bois Festival. Between Me and the Other World captured Du Bois double consciousness. We were joined by activists and scholars and hundreds of Berkshire residents for dance and dialogue over the Du Bois Legacy Festival due to a strong partnership with the Pillow and a generous sponsorship from Berkshire Bank Foundation.

​10:30 - 12:30 Du Bois Legacy Tour: Mason Library Talk, W. E. B. Du Bois: An Enduring Educational Legacy, Randy Weinstein, Barbara Dean, and Leah Reed followed by Great Barrington Du Bois Legacy Walk (Du Bois Center, Family Graveyard Site and Du Bois Boyhood Site)
1:30-4:30pm “The Souls of Black Folk”: Celebrating the Songs, Poems, and Text Drawn from W. E. B. Du Bois,  “Poems and Music” from The Souls of Black Folk, 1903 Community Book Club & Discussion, The Souls of Black Folk with Gwendolyn VanSant, Stephanie Wright, Leah Reed, Barbara Dean and Sara Mugridge with Musical accompaniment by Donna Gouger, Bob Paynter with Dr. MaryNell Morgan 
***

Performance Installation of Between me and the other world by Zaccho Dance TheatreThe McConnell Theater at the Daniel Arts Center, Bard College at Simon’s Rock6-6:45pm Pre-Show Panel Discussion with Joanna Haigood and MaryNell Morgan, PhD, Frances Jones Sneed, PhD, Whitney Battle Baptiste, PhD and Dennis Powell.  moderated by Gwendolyn VanSant
7-9:30pm Between me and the other world, An immersive performance installation by Zaccho Dance Theatre, choreographed by Joanna Haigood, exploring W. E. B. Du Bois’ seminal work The Souls of Black Folk.
7:30-10:30pm Community Dialogue & Reflections  curated and hosted by Joanna Haigood with community partners from Jacobs Pillow, Du Bois Legacy Committee and BRIDGE


Sunday, February 23, 2020, First Congregational Church, Great BarringtonThe W. E. B. Du Bois Legacy Festival Birthday Program10:30 am “Eyewitness to History” Rev. Sloan Letman IV (guest pastor) with the presiding Rev. Tara Tetzlaff, A Story for All God's Children: "Learning the Truth"
12:00 pm  First Congregational Church Fellowship with Town of Great Barrington Du Bois Legacy Committee, Macedonia Baptist Church and BRIDGE and Festival guests
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1:30 Welcome Town of Great Barrington Selectboard with Selectboard Member, Ed Abrahams and Legacy Committee Vice Chair, Gwendolyn VanSant 
Town of Great Barrington W. E. B. Du Bois Legacy Committee Introductions: Stephanie Wright
Prayer & Blessing: Rev. Sloan Letman IV
On Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois: Randy Weinstein, Chair of Legacy Committee with Jeffrey Peck, Du Bois Family representative
Song & Message: Rev. Joallen Forte, Macedonia Baptist Church 
2:00 W. E. B. Du Bois Legacy Lecture Series Presentations: “The Enduring Educational Legacy of W. E. B. Du Bois”
Dr. Emily Allen Williams, Du Bois Legacy Committee Member and Lecture Series Curator
“W. E. B. Du Bois – “The Atlanta University Years”
Speaker: Dr. Danille Taylor, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, Clark Atlanta University
“The Social Theory of W. E. B. Du Bois on Race and Slavery in America”Speaker: Dr. Deirdre Foreman, Associate Director, Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF), Ramapo College of New Jersey
“Creating the Statue of W. E. B. Du Bois at Clark Atlanta University and Recent Historical Sculptures”Speaker: Professor Ayokunle Odeleye, Professor of Art and Sculptor, Kennesaw State University and Odeleye Sculpture Studios
“Double Consciousness and Cultural Creatives: 2020 Vision in the Works of W. E. B. Du Bois and Shirley Graham Du Bois”Speaker: Dr. Chenzira Davis-Kahina, Director, Virgin Islands Caribbean Cultural Center (VICCC), University of the Virgin Islands

Panel Discussion and Q&A moderated by Dr. Karl Johnson, Professor of African American Cultural Studies, Ramapo College of New Jersey
***
4:00 Community Reflections led by Leah Reed & Gwendolyn VanSant
Today’s program presented in partnership with Jacobs Pillow, BRIDGE, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Du Bois Center of Great Barrington, First Congregational Church, Macedonia Baptist Church, and NAACP Berkshire County Branch

Sponsors: Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, BRIDGE, Jacob’s Pillow, Berkshire Bank Foundation, UMASS Libraries- Du Bois Center and Greylock Federal Credit Union
Program ends at 4:30
Thank you Dinner for Festival Guests at Pleasant & Main for Community Sponsors & Partners at 5:30 ( RSVP required. $30/person)