Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has stated that Africa’s under-development the last 400 years has been propelled by the wide spread human capital flight out of the continent to Europe and the rest of the developed world.

Addressing a durbar and wreath-laying ceremony to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of DuBois held at the W. E. B. DuBois Centre, Cantonments, Accra, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia said economic research has strongly indicated that the single most important resource that every country needs in order to develop is not its natural resources but rather, its human resource.

It is no surprise then the Vice President observed, that Africa is under-developed whereas the countries where the human capital of the continent were taken are now developed.

The Vice President commended the short but influential work of Du Bois in Ghana and assured that the Akufo Addo administration will uphold his beliefs and work very hard to retain the country’s human capital and to move Ghana beyond aid.

US Ambassador to Ghana, Robert P. Jackson, in his remarks stated that the world stands on the shoulders of giants such as Du Bois. To that end, Mr. Du Bois’s contribution to the development of Ghana and Africa cannot be over emphasized. The legacy of W. E. B. Du Bois, the Ambassador said, will live on over several generations.

A great-grandson of Dr. Du Bois, Mr. Arthur McFarlane II, in his remarks said, the advice his great grandfather left him was that he should, “do something with his life that the world needs to have done that he enjoys doing”. He charged the gathering to follow after the advice that has kept him going in his life.

In his keynote address, Professor Horace Campbell, Kwame Nkrumah Chair of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon,
said the life of Du Bois must act as a reminder to the rest of Africa today that black lives still matter. He observed that the late Du Bois was a peace worker and a human rights activist who fought against war in the world. Today, those virtues are still relevant and they must guide the leadership of Africa if the continent is to be transformed from its current state of challenges.

He slammed the rhetoric of US President, Donald Trump, “America First”, calling it a coded language that has elements of racism hidden in it. He called on the black world to reject the claims of the US President and stand up for the protection of blacks everywhere in the world.

The Man W.E.B. Du Bois

W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the most important African-American activists during the first half of the 20th century. He co-founded the N.A.A.C.P., supported Pan-Africanism and wrote ‘The Souls of Black Folk.’ Scholar and activist, W.E.B. Du Bois was born on February 23rd,1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. In 1895, he became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Du Bois wrote extensively and was the best known spokesperson for African-American rights during the first half of the 20th century. He co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.) in 1909. Du Bois died in Ghana in 1963.

Early Life and Education

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, better known as W.E.B. Du Bois, was born on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. While growing up in a mostly European American town, W.E.B. Du Bois identified himself as “mulatto,” but freely attended school with whites and was enthusiastically supported in his academic studies by his white teachers. In 1885, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to attend Fisk University. It was there that he first encountered Jim Crow laws. For the first time, he began analyzing the deep troubles of American racism.

After earning his bachelor’s degree at Fisk, Du Bois entered Harvard University. He paid his way with money from summer jobs, scholarships and loans from friends. After completing his masters degree, he was selected for a study-abroad program at the University of Berlin. While a pupil in Germany, he studied with some of the most prominent social scientists of his day and was exposed to political perspectives that he touted for the remainder of his life.

Du Bois’ Unprecedented Accomplishment

Du Bois became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1895, and went on to enroll as a doctoral student at Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (now Humboldt-Universität). He would be awarded an honorary doctoral degree from Humboldt decades later, in 1958.