Editing W. E. B. Du Bois (section)

===Death in Africa===
[[File:Du Bois 95th birthday in Ghana 1963.jpg|thumb|alt=An elderly, smiling Du Bois sits in a chair, flanked by a man and woman also seated and smiling|Du Bois (center) at his 95th birthday party in 1963, with President [[Kwame Nkrumah]] (right) and First Lady [[Fathia Nkrumah]]]]

Nkrumah invited Du Bois to the [[Dominion of Ghana]] to participate in their independence celebration in 1957, but he was unable to attend because the U.S. government had confiscated his [[United States passport|passport]] in 1951. By 1960{{spaced ndash}}the "[[Year of Africa]]"{{spaced ndash}}Du Bois had recovered his passport and was able to cross the Atlantic and celebrate the creation of the [[Ghana|Republic of Ghana]]. Du Bois returned to Africa in late 1960 to attend the inauguration of [[Nnamdi Azikiwe]] as the first African governor of [[Federation of Nigeria|Nigeria]].<ref name=Lewis707>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=696, 707, 708}}.</ref>

While visiting Ghana in 1960, Du Bois spoke with its president about the creation of a new encyclopedia of the [[African diaspora]], the ''[[Encyclopedia Africana]]''.<ref name=Lewis707/> In early 1961, Ghana notified Du Bois that they had appropriated funds to support the encyclopedia project, and they invited him to travel to Ghana and manage the project there. In October 1961, at the age of 93, Du Bois and his wife traveled to Ghana to take up residence and commence work on the encyclopedia.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|pp=709–711}}.</ref> In early 1963, the United States refused to renew his passport, so he made the symbolic gesture of becoming a [[Ghanaian nationality law|citizen of Ghana]].<ref name="Lewis, p. 712">Lewis, p. 712.</ref>

The FBI continued to "keep tabs" on Du Bois and Graham Du Bois while they lived in Ghana.<ref name=":Gao" />{{Rp|page=62}}

While it is sometimes stated that Du Bois [[Relinquishment of United States nationality|renounced his U.S. citizenship]] at that time,<ref>{{cite news|title=Renouncing citizenship is usually all about the Benjamins, say experts|url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/05/11/renouncing-citizenship-is-usually-all-about-benjamins-say-experts/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512003635/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/05/11/renouncing-citizenship-is-usually-all-about-benjamins-say-experts/|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 12, 2012|newspaper=[[Fox News]]|date=May 11, 2012|access-date=May 18, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Celebrities Who Renounced Their Citizenship|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/01/celebrities-who-renounced-citizenship_n_2602099.html|newspaper=[[Huffington Post]]|date=February 1, 2012|access-date=May 18, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Aberjhani|first1=Sandra L. West|title=Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance|date=2003|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-3017-0|page=89|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XP48QWTmjyUC&pg=PA89|access-date=May 18, 2015}}</ref> and he stated his intention to do so, Du Bois never actually did.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2009|p=841, footnote 39}}.</ref> His health declined during the two years he was in Ghana; he died on August 27, 1963, in the capital, [[Accra]], at the age of 95.<ref name="Lewis, p. 712"/> The following day, at the [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom|March on Washington]], speaker [[Roy Wilkins]] asked the hundreds of thousands of marchers to honor Du Bois with a moment of silence.<ref>Blum, Edward J. (2007), ''W. E. B. Du Bois, American Prophet'', University of Pennsylvania Press, p. 211.</ref> The [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]], embodying many of the reforms Du Bois had campaigned for during his entire life, was enacted almost a year after his death.<ref>Horne, p. xii.</ref>

Du Bois was given a [[state funeral]] on August 29–30, 1963, at Nkrumah's request, and was buried near the western wall of [[Osu Castle|Christiansborg Castle (now Osu Castle)]], then the [[seat of government]] in Accra. In China, a crowd of 10,000 people stood in silence for three minutes, and major figures including Mao, Zhou Enlai, [[Soong Ching-ling|Soong Ching-Ling]], and [[Guo Moruo]] sent messages of condolence to Graham Du Bois.<ref name=":Gao" />{{Rp|page=64}}

In 1985, another Ghana state ceremony honored Du Bois. With the ashes of Graham Du Bois, who had died in 1977, his body was re-interred at their former home in Accra, which was dedicated the [[W. E. B. Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan African Culture]] in his memory.<ref>Bass, Amy (2009), ''Those About Him Remained Silent: The Battle over W. E. B. Du Bois'', University of Minnesota Press, p. xiii.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=twazxuJh1mIC&pg=PA61|title=Re-Cognizing W. E. B. Du Bois in the Twenty-First Century: Essays on W. E. B. Du Bois|last1=Shipley|first1=Jesse Weaver|last2=Pierre|first2=Jemima|date=2007|publisher=Mercer University Press|location=Macon, GA|isbn=978-0-88146-077-3|editor-last=Keller|editor-first=Mary|pages=61–87|chapter=The Intellectual and Pragmatic Legacy of Du Bois's Pan-Africanism in Contemporary Ghana|editor-last2=Fontenot Jr.|editor-first2=Chester J.}}</ref> Du Bois's first wife Nina, their son Burghardt, and their daughter Yolande, who died in 1961, were buried in the cemetery of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, his hometown.