Harvard Residence Of Du Bois Is for Sale

The Cambridge house where a Black civil rights pioneer lived as a Harvard student is up for sale, and the mayor wants to organize a group to buy it.

The asking price for the house where W.E.B. Du Bois rented a room from 1890 to 1893 is $525,000.

"This is a very important landmark in the nation's history, particularly the nation's African-American history," Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72 told The Boston Sunday Globe.

Last year, Reeves and the Cambridge Historical Commission placed a marker on the front yard to commemorate Du Bois's life. They also made the residence a stop on the Cambridge African-American Heritage Trail.

The house at 20 Flagg St., two blocks from the Charles River, was built in 1875 and completely refurbished in 1987.

It was sold in the early 1980s by Harvard. The current owners are Taylor and April Bodman, who had moved there from New York.

"The fact that W.E.B. Du Bois lived here was something that was mentioned, but the previous owners didn't make anything of it," said April Bodman. "After we moved in, the Cambridge Historical Commission made a big deal of it."

Her two children now sleep in what they call the "Du Bois room."

The Italianate Victorian house has an entry hall; a grand living room with fireplace, interior shutters, bay windows, wide pine floors; a dining room with original plaster moldings and formal French doors opening to the deck and gardens; and a modern chef's kitchen with oak floors and an arched ceiling.

The second floor has a master bedroom, a second bedroom and a study. The attic has three unfinished rooms.

Born in the Berkshire community of Great Barrington in 1868, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois became the first Blackperson to receive a Ph. D. degree Harvard.

Considered the founder of the Pan-Africanmovement, Du Bois was a strong opponent of theviews held by the noted Black educator Booker T.Washington. Washington believed that Blacks couldadvance themselves faster through hard than bydemands for equal rights.

Du Bois helped found the National Associationfor the Advancement of Colored People in 1909, buthe became increasingly dissatisfied with the stateof race relations in the unites States.

In 1961, Du Bois joined the Communist Party andmoved to Africa. He died Aug. 27, 1963, in Ghana.

This story was compiled with AssociatedPress wire dispatches.

Considered the founder of the Pan-Africanmovement, Du Bois was a strong opponent of theviews held by the noted Black educator Booker T.Washington. Washington believed that Blacks couldadvance themselves faster through hard than bydemands for equal rights.

Du Bois helped found the National Associationfor the Advancement of Colored People in 1909, buthe became increasingly dissatisfied with the stateof race relations in the unites States.

In 1961, Du Bois joined the Communist Party andmoved to Africa. He died Aug. 27, 1963, in Ghana.

This story was compiled with AssociatedPress wire dispatches.