W.E.B. Du Bois, Wikipedia.
March 27, 2025, marked 48 years since the death of Shirley Graham DuBois, the prominent African American writer, scholar, and social activist. She was the widow of the prolific academic W.E.B. Du Bois. As her legacy as an advocate for racial equality, Pan-Africanism, and social justice continues, it’s important to reflect on her substantial role in the shaping of the political landscape, particularly her resisting the United States Justice Department, who on May 5, 1970 denied her entry into the country citing the McCarran-Walter Act. This history provides an antecedent to the modern-day and current struggles associated with the U.S. visa system, especially when it involves politically marginalized people involved in contentious politics.
DuBois, a brilliant playwright and artist, was active in the international struggle for racial equality. After the death of her husband in 1963, she continued to “loudly challenge anticommunism” and argued for African liberation and joined in the fight against colonialism and imperialism. She founded the journal Freedomways as its first general editor and was particularly vocal about the detriments of American foreign policy, along with the mistreatment of black people. Having lived in Ghana from 1961-1966, she became a globally prominent figure and campaigned for Pan-Africanism and spoke out against neo-colonialism and US foreign interventions, particularly in both Vietnam and Africa.
Shirley DuBois’s history intersects with the broader political climate of the 1960s and 70s when the U.S. government became increasingly concerned with dissent and anti-imperialist movements and activities. In 1970, after spending several years in Africa, DuBois sought to return to the United States after receiving an invitation to visit Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee as noted by historian Gerald Horne in Race Woman. The United States Justice Department overruled the State Department and denied her entry however, citing concerns over her political beliefs, particularly her anti-imperialist work and her condemnations of state violence and war. The department had long considered both her and her husband as having “associations with numerous subversive organizations.” Her experiences were similar to one Gisela Mandel, wife of the Belgian Marxist economist Ernest Mandel, who was denied permission to enter the United States to speak at an antiwar rally at Columbia University on April 11, 1970. All of this mostly coincided alongside the political persecution of a very young 27-year-old reporter from the Black Dwarf by the name of Tariq Ali.
The U.S. establishment viewed DuBois as a threat due to her public associations with radical political ideas, including her admiration for socialism, communism, and larger decolonization movements. The U.S. government’s actions were part of a wider strategy during the Cold War to suppress voices critical of U.S. foreign policy, especially resistance linked to left-wing ideologies. Long before 1970, the DuBois tandem “faced the worst of the [FBI’s] Cold War strictures.”
In his earlier years of journalism, Abdeen Jabara of the Intercontinental Press reported on Shirley DuBois winning her visa fight as did C. Gerald Fraser of the New York Times on August 16, 1970. C. Eric Lincoln, President of the Board of the Black Academy of Arts and Letters, explained how the Immigration and Naturalization Service had announced its reversal of refusing Shirley DuBois a visa. He wrote, “in light of the reason for which Mrs. DuBois now wishes to visit the United States, this service has concurred in the recommendation of the Department of State.” The reversal was the result of a large public outcry and organized resistance within the Black community to the Justice Department’s initial overruling.
National security concerns have historically been used to justify the denial or revocation of visas for scholars such as Shirley DuBois, a practice that continues today. Fast forward to 2025, where similar patterns of revocations and crackdowns continue to affect those who challenge (or don’t even challenge) U.S. foreign or domestic policies. The collection of visas (Secretary of State Marco Rubio has confirmed over 300 revoked visas) and their restrictions as a political weapon remains prevalent, crucially for individuals with dissenting views. Much like Shirley DuBois’s historical experience, individuals with controversial or politically sensitive views or statuses face heightened scrutiny — which may jeopardize their ability to enter or remain in America. For instance, activists critical of U.S. military actions in the Middle East, Africa, or Latin America, or those who oppose Israeli occupation, may find themselves subjected to detainment and deportations.
Mahmoud Khalil, the permanent resident green-card holder and Columbia University graduate student that was arrested after participating in pro-Palestinian protests highlights this ongoing issue. Another example is the case of Rasha Alawieh, a Lebanese professor and doctor from Brown University who was deported due to her alleged “sympathetic photos and videos” associating her with Hezbollah. While no charges were filed against Alawieh, her political influences and interests were enough to justify her deportation under the pretext of “national security.” Just as Civil Rights organizations rallied around Shirley DuBois, Alawieh received support from The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) who indicated that:
Deporting lawful immigrants like Dr. Alawieh without any basis undermines the rule of law and reinforces suspicion that our immigration system is turning into an anti-Muslim, white supremacist institution that seeks to expel and turn away as many Muslims and people of color as possible.
Further, people involved in peacemaking or direct action find themselves under scrutiny in part because of their statuses as scholars and writers. Scholars who write critically about U.S. imperialism, capitalism, or military actions are more subject to visa revocations or denials. A recent example of this includes Badar Khan Suri, an Indian postdoctoral fellow whose visa was revoked under laws that allow deportations based on perceived foreign policy threats. And again, like DuBois and Mandel in the past, Suri’s scholarship and political views (a scholar of religion and peace!) placed him at odds with the U.S. government interests, leading to his own student visa complications. Another activist, a Tufts and Turkish National doctoral student named Rumeysa Ozturk urged her school to divest itself from corporate ties to Israel amidst a genocide and the result was her enforced disappearance.
New York Magazine just reported how Camila Muñoz, a Peruvian immigrant with a pending green card application, was detained despite her application being processed. She recently married an American Trump voter who regrettably still does not rethink his voting preference. Tourists and immigrants from Germany, Canada, and France as well have also experienced aggressive tactics at ports of entry. Yenseo Chung, a Columbia student not at all prominent in organized demonstrations, was targeted for merely participating in a protest at Barnard College. Although the strategy of the Trump Administration thus far has been to target elite schools thus divorcing them from the public good, support for the vulnerable remains vital and their interests should not be dismissed as mere reflections of “bourgeoise freedom and democracy.” (And as Ralph Milbrand warned against categorizing).
In short, Shirley DuBois’s fight against U.S. visa denial in 1970 was not only a personal battle but also a reflection of the broader tradition of Political Repression in Modern America. Whether through anti-imperialist activism, critiques of U.S. policies, or associations with controversial people and movements, individuals like DuBois and those facing visa issues in 2025 are trapped in a system that uses immigration controls to criminalize dissent to maintain what’s perceived as political stability.
In the ongoing struggle for maintaining freedom of expression, the stories of DuBois, Mandel, and modern-day activists, highlight the need for continued attention in defending the rights of marginalized individuals who will speak out against human rights abuses regardless of the political climate.
