Great Barrington in Berkshire County, Massachusetts — The American Northeast (New England)
The House of the Black Burghardts
W.E.B. Du Bois National Historic Site
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, July 4, 2019
1. The House of the Black Burghardts Marker
"It is the first home that I remember. There my mother was born and all her nine brothers and sisters.... [It was the] center of the world... a delectable place — simple, square and low, with the great room of the fireplace, the flagged kitchen, half a step below, and the lower woodshed beyond. Steep, strong stairs led up to Sleep, while without was a brook, a well and a mighty elm."
—W.E.B. Du Bois, “The House of the Black Burghardts,” 1928
You are inside "the great room" of the House of the Black Burghardts that Du Bois describes in the quote above. The two stakes approximately 40 feet to your right and the two stakes to your left demarcate the outlines of the House. On your right imagine seeing the "flagged kitchen, half a step below and the lower woodshed beyond." In between the kitchen and the woodshed would have been the "steep strong stairs" leading up to the second floor. On your left you can see the remains of the new chimney that Du Bois had built as home for his ancestral fire tongs in his dreamed-for summer cottage in the Berkshires. Archaeologist Robert Paynter of the University of Massachusetts Amherst,
W.E.B. Du Bois Papers, Special Collections & University Archives, University of Mass. Amherst
2. Marker detail: Mary Sylvina Burghardt Du Bois holding her infant son William
This is a photograph of Mary Sylvina Burghardt Du Bois holding her infant son William in 1868. Du Bois was born in downtown Great Barrington on Church Street, but moved here to his grandparents Othello and Sally Burghardt's house with his mother and older half-brother ldelbert at age 2. By the time Du Bois was 5, Mary Du Bois and her children had moved back into downtown Great Barrington.
this page online
"Most people don't realize that European settlers in the North brought Africans here in slavery to labor for them. By combining the results from archaeological investigations here at the Homesite since 1983 with the Du Bois Papers at the University of Massachusetts Special Collections and University Archives, we are piecing together what life was like for six generations of Du Bois' family, showing the many ways that African Americans built New England."
”And from its long hiding place I brought out an old black pair of tongs. Once my grandfather, and mayhap his, used them in the great fireplace of the House. Long years I have carried them tenderly over the earth. But when the old fireplace rises again from the dead on Egremont Plain, its dead eyes shall see not only the ghosts of old Tom and his son Jack and his grandson Othello and his great grandson, me — but also the real presence of these iron tongs resting again in fire worship in the House of the Black Burghardts."
—W.E.B. Du Bois, “The House of the Black Burghardts,” 1928
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Anthropology & Archaeology • Architecture • Civil Rights.
Location. 42° 10.629′ N, 73° 23.658′
Special Collections & University Archives, University of Mass. Amherst
3. Marker detail: Great Barrington and South Egremont Plain, 1870
This map of Great Barrington and South Egremont Plain appeared in the F.W. Beers Atlas of Berkshire County in 1870. The Homesite is identified on the map as the residence of W. Piper, who married Martha Burghardt, one of Du Bois' cousins. If you look on the map further to the southwest, you see the home of H. Burghardt, Du Bois' great-uncle Harlow. As a child, Du Bois lived in a neighborhood of other Burghardts, who were farmers, laborers, homemakers, and servants.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. I Have A Sentimental Desire to Keep this Place (a few steps from this marker); W.E.B. Du Bois: Architect of the Modern Civil Rights Movement (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Grass Roots Democracy (about 300 feet away); Boulder Dedicated to the Legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois (about 300 feet away); W.E.B. Du Bois Boyhood Homesite (about 300 feet away); Democracy and Human Rights (about 400 feet away); A Tireless Explorer of Social Truths (about 400 feet away); A Contribution that No Other Race Can Make (about 400 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Great Barrington.
Regarding The House of the Black Burghardts. National Register of Historic Places #76000947.
Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker. W.E.B. Du Bois National Historic Site
Also see . . .
1. W.E.B. Du Bois National Historic Site.
The five-acre(Submitted on April 2, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)Du Bois Homesite brings awareness to African American heritage in New England through Du Bois’s maternal lineage, the Black Burghardts, dating from the 1700s. In 1983, 1984, and 2003 the University of Massachusetts Archaeological Field School conducted excavations. These investigations illuminate the lives of Du Bois’s rural ancestors and how they created a distinctive African American home place in New England. A “living memorial,” the property continues to yield discoveries about the daily life of the Black Burghardts.Courtesy Rachel Fletcher4. Marker detail: UMass Archaeological Field Study, 2003In 2003 the UMass archaeological field school examined the immediate area around the house. You are standing where the hanging blue tarp is in the photograph. You can learn more about archaeology at the Homesite at http://scholarworks.umass.edu/du_bois_boyhood_survey/.
2. Archaeology at the W.E.B. Du Bois Boyhood Homesite.
Archaeological Report on the 2003 University of Massachusetts Amherst Summer Field School in Archaeology work at the W.E.B. Du Bois Boyhood Homesite(Submitted on April 2, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
Photographed By Christopher Douyard, Department of Anthropology, University of Mass. Amherst
5. Marker detail: UMass Archaeological Field Study Artifacts
Archaeologists found nearly 30,000 artifacts from virtually every aspect of daily life. Most of these objects date from the turn of the twentieth century, when Edward and Lena Wooster, Du Bois' cousin's family, lived on the property. Can you recognize a medicine bottle, the blade of an ice skate, a piece of a shoe, part of an imported dinner plate from Asia, and part of a plate from America?
Photographed By Christopher Douyard, Department of Anthropology, University of Mass. Amherst
6. Marker detail: UMass Archaeological Field Study Artifacts
Much of the work of UMass archaeologists is done in the lab, puzzling how the many sherds that come out of the ground could be reassembled into recognizable artifacts that help us to imagine the lives of the Burghardts.
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, July 4, 2019
7. The House of the Black Burghardts Marker
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, July 4, 2019
8. The House of the Black Burghardts Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on April 3, 2022. It was originally submitted on April 2, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 142 times since then and 42 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. submitted on April 2, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
