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Nina Gomer Du Bois

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Nina Gomer Du Bois
Du Bois (right) with her husband and daughter circa 1901
Born(1870-07-04)July 4, 1870
Quincy, Illinois, U.S.
DiedJuly 26, 1950(1950-07-26) (aged 80)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Resting placeMahaiwe Cemetery
EducationWilberforce College
Occupation(s)activist
homemaker
Spouse
​
(m. 1896)​
Children2 (including Yolande Du Bois)

Nina Gomer Du Bois (July 4, 1870 – July 26, 1950) was an American civil rights activist, Baháʼí Faith practitioner, and homemaker. She served on the executive committee of the Women's International Circle of Peace and Foreign Relations in 1927, which was largely responsible for organizing the fourth Pan-African Congress in New York. Du Bois was the first wife of civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois and the mother of the educator Yolande Du Bois.

Early life and education

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Du Bois was born on July 4, 1870, to Charles S. Gomer and Mary J. Schneider Gomer in Quincy, Illinois.[1][2] When she was six years old, her family moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where her father was employed as a cook at Brown's Hotel.[2] Following her father's promotion to head cook of the hotel, he purchased a small house for the family in 1878.[2]

She attended Wilberforce College.[3]

Later life

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She married the activist W.E.B. Du Bois, who had been a teacher at Wilberforce College, on May 12, 1896, at her father's home in Cedar Rapids.[4] They had two children: a son, Burghardt, who died in infancy, and a daughter, Yolande.[5] She lived in Baltimore with her daughter until her daughter's divorce, at which time the two moved to the family's Dunbar apartment in New York City.[6]

She was involved in her husband's civil rights work and described as a civil rights activist, but mostly stayed home to raise their daughter.[7] She served on the executive committee of the Women's International Circle of Peace and Foreign Relations in 1927, alongside Minta Bosley Allen Trotman and Addie Waites Hunton.[8] The committee was largely responsible for organizing the fourth Pan-African Congress in New York.[9]

In 1936, Du Bois converted from Christianity to the Baháʼí Faith.[4] She was active in the Baháʼí community.[10]

By 1946, she and her family were living in Morgan Park, Maryland.[2]

Du Bois died on July 26, 1950.[11] She was buried in Mahaiwe Cemetery in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.[12]

References

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  1. ^ "Nina Gomer Du Bois as a young woman, circa 1898 - Archives & Manuscripts at Duke University Libraries". David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Archived from the original on 2024-07-09. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  2. ^ a b c d "Time Machine: Woman who grew up in Cedar Rapids married civil rights leader". www.thegazette.com. Archived from the original on 2024-06-30. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  3. ^ "Du Bois, Nina Gomer (1871-1950) · Jane Addams Digital Edition". digital.janeaddams.ramapo.edu. Archived from the original on 2024-07-09. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  4. ^ a b Talley, Radiance (February 23, 2024). "W.E.B. and Nina Du Bois: Lovers of the Baha'i Principles".
  5. ^ Randolph, Ryan P. (2005). W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Civil Rights. The Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 9781404226562. Archived from the original on 2024-07-09. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  6. ^ Bolden, Tonya (2008). Up Close, W. E. B. Du Bois: A Twentieth-century Life. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-670-06302-4.
  7. ^ DITTMER, ARLIS (April 16, 2022). "Nina Gomer Du Bois: Daughter, Wife, Mother". Herald-Whig. Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  8. ^ Salem, Dorothy C. (1990). To better our world : Black women in organized reform, 1890-1920. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Carlson Pub. ISBN 0-926019-20-1. OCLC 21035416. Archived from the original on 2024-07-09. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  9. ^ Ramdani, Fatma (2015-03-26). "Afro-American Women Activists as True Negotiators in the International Arena (1893-1945)". European Journal of American Studies (in French). 10 (10–1). doi:10.4000/ejas.10646. hdl:20.500.12210/63477. ISSN 1991-9336. Archived from the original on 2024-07-09. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  10. ^ "Nina Gomer Du Bois". Archived from the original on 2024-07-09. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  11. ^ "Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963. Announcement of the death of Nina Gomer Du Bois, July 26, 1950. W. E. B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries". credo.library.umass.edu. Archived from the original on July 23, 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  12. ^ Horne, Gerald; Young, Mary (2001). W.E.B. Du Bois: An Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313296659. Archived from the original on 2023-10-18. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
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