Courtney B. Vance will serve as narrator for the first-ever audio edition of David Levering Lewis’ two-volume biography of W.E.B. Du Bois. The actor shared his excitement about the project in a statement.
“As a lover of history, I was drawn to W.E.B. Du Bois’s award-winning biography,” Vance shared. “Having the chance to reintroduce his legacy to audiophiles by narrating his life story has been an honor and true passion project for me.”
W.E.B. Du Bois was a scholar, author, and civil rights activist in the United States. David Levering Lewis does a thorough job of capturing the essence of Du Bois’ life’s journey and work in his two-volume biography. The first volume is titled, W.E.B. Du Bois, 1868-1919: Biography of a Race. The second volume of Lewis’ work is called W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919-1963.
“I can hardly believe this has come to pass,” David Levering Lewis said of Courtney B. Vance serving as the voice for his two-volume biography. “Listen to Courtney B. Vance and you shall hear the spoken wisdom of an American colossus, a prophetic man of color in whose 95 years all intellectual, political, economic, and racial choices were profoundly explored,” Lewis shared.
It was during an interview earlier this year that David Levering Lewis recounted a time when he met W.E. B. Du Bois. “My mother venerated and idolized Du Bois,” Lewis shared with the Chicago Review of Books. “She had been a student of his, and she was assigned some research to do for the famous Atlanta University Studies about religion and race and business,” he added.
Lewis met Du Bois on the heels of the scholar giving a speech to the Boulé in which Du Bois told the members of the Talented Tenth that their time for racial leadership had passed.
“My father was stunned by what was being said,” Lewis revealed. “My mother just forgave him,” he added. “But really it was the most provocative asseveration that the Talented Tenth was useless. It hadn’t lived up to its obligations.”
Stories similar to Lewis’ interaction with W.E.B Du Bois can be found in his latest book, The Stained Glass Window: A Family History as the American Story, 1790-1958, which is the historian’s journey into his family tree. The audio version of Lewis’ two-volume biography based on the life of W.E.B. Du Bois is set for release in June.