Rita Coburn & Jeffrey Wright To Bring Their Feature Doc ‘W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause’ To London
Rita Coburn’s documentary about W.E.B. Du Bois is coming to London after its US broadcast debut and a North American theatrical tour. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Coburn and actor Jeffrey Wright, bringing the film’s account of Du Bois’s life and influence to a UK audience.
The two-hour film traces Du Bois’s journey from becoming the first African American to earn a PhD from Harvard to helping found the NAACP and advancing Pan-African work. Narrated by Viola Davis, it combines readings by Common, Courtney B. Vance and Wright with archival material and commentary from historians and cultural figures. It is scheduled for Sunday, 18 October 2026, at the Charlotte Street Hotel.
- Rita Coburn’s Du Bois documentary is screening in London.
- Jeffrey Wright will join Coburn for a post-screening conversation.
- The film blends dramatic readings, archival material and expert commentary.
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W.E.B. Du Bois was an American scholar, writer and civil rights campaigner who lived from 1868 to 1963. He was the first African American to earn a PhD from Harvard University and became a prominent critic of racial discrimination.
Du Bois helped establish the NAACP, a US organisation that campaigns for equal rights, and worked to build links among people of African descent around the world through Pan-Africanism. His scholarship and activism shaped debates about race and equality in the United States and beyond.
Rita Coburn’s film uses archival material, readings and interviews to explore his life and influence. A discussion with Coburn and actor Jeffrey Wright gives audiences a chance to hear more about the documentary and Du Bois’s legacy.