Du Bois Institute Opens in New Home

On what Du Bois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr. called “one of the happiest days of my life,” the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research celebrated the opening of its new home at 104 Mount Auburn St. yesterday.

The Institute, which was created in 1975 and which Gates has directed since 1991, previously had offices spread out across campus, including one spot in the Barker Center.

At yesterday’s open house, Gates extolled the “synergy” that would result from having all of the Institute’s diverse activities and research programs “under one roof.”

“All of the fragmentation that we had before is over,” Gates said.

The Institute now occupies three floors and includes an art gallery dedicated to former University President Neil L. Rudenstine and his wife, Anjelica. In his remarks, Gates paid special tribute to Rudenstine, praising his support for building the “largest, finest, and richest research institute for African and African American studies in the world.”

Rudenstine, who attended the open house and spoke about the “profound relationship” between Du Bois and art, told The Crimson that he and his wife were “just very moved by it all.” Rudenstine also credited University President Lawrence H. Summers and Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby for supporting the Institute.

The first exhibit in the Rudenstine gallery, titled “Bojeo: Traces in a Fragmented History,” presents work by renowned artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons and is scheduled to be on display through January.

“I really want undergraduate students to know this gallery, to spend time in this gallery, and to suggest new exhibitions,” said Karen C. C. Dalton, assistant director of the Institute.

Many in attendance expressed admiration for Gates’ leadership of the Institute. Rudenstine, who presented Gates with a first edition of Du Bois’ “The Souls of Black Folk,” remarked that he “can’t say enough about Skip [Gates]” and praised Gates’ “amazing amount of energy and commitment and devotion.”

David L. Dance ’74, director of programs at the Phillips Brooks House Association, said the new office space “has been a long time coming, and Professor Gates deserves all the credit we can give him.”

Kirby said before his remarks at the event that the Barker Center “no longer had the capacity to hold the intellectual energy” of the Institute and that the new building “shows the growth of this enterprise.”

He added that the new space “shows how important African and African American studies is at Harvard.”

Alphonse Fletcher, Jr. ’87, a major Harvard donor who also endowed the professorship most recently held by former Harvard faculty member Cornel R. West ’74, said yesterday that “it’s amazing how [the Institute’s operations] have all come together.”

“It’s always a very difficult matter for a university to balance its enormous and varied needs,” Fletcher added. “It’s great to see that [Summers] has been able to stand behind the Du Bois Institute so that it could have such a marvelous home for its many important projects.”