*American Masters has launched the primary trailer for “W.E.B. Du Bois: Insurgent With A Trigger,” a brand new two-hour documentary set to debut Might 19, 2026 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS. The movie is directed by Peabody Award-winner Rita Coburn and can air nationally (examine native listings).
Per the information launch, the documentary traces the lifetime of William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, starting together with his start on February 23, 1868, 5 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, by his dying in 1963 on the eve of the March on Washington. It presents a chronological portrait of Du Bois’s experiences, spanning the top of Reconstruction, two World Wars, and the emergence of the Civil Rights Motion.
Narrated by Viola Davis, the movie incorporates dramatic readings of Du Bois’s writings carried out by Frequent, Courtney B. Vance, and Jeffrey Wright. Commentary from students, historians, artists, and biographers—together with Raymond Arsenault, Karida Brown, Eric Foner, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Eddie Glaude Jr., Nikole Hannah-Jones, David Levering Lewis, and Imani Perry—supplies extra context. Drawing on his books, speeches, articles, and archival audio, the documentary highlights his use of scholarship, information, and infographics to confront systemic racism.
The movie additionally explores Du Bois’s private hardships, together with the dying of his toddler son, alongside his public achievements. His activism included co-founding the NAACP, serving to to ascertain the Niagara Motion, participating in debates with Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey, and contributing to the founding of the United Nations. In his 1903 e-book “The Souls of Black People,” he wrote, “The issue of the twentieth century is the colour line.”
“My hope is that this documentary invitations reflection and sparks dialogue, not solely about who Du Bois was, however in regards to the world we proceed to form in his wake,” mentioned director Rita Coburn. “His life reminds us that scholarship and artwork, grounded in reality, could be weapons towards oppression. To inform his story is to affirm that the pursuit of justice is as pressing in the present day because it was in his time.”
“Dr. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois lived from 1868 to 1963, and he devoted his life to serving to us all perceive what he referred to as ‘the issue of the colour line,’” mentioned Michael Kantor, Government Producer of American Masters. “Although even the good Dr. Du Bois couldn’t resolve this drawback, his teachings and his affect couldn’t resonate extra strongly in the present day.”
Now in its fortieth season, American Masters is produced by The WNET Group and is out there on PBS broadcast platforms and for streaming on PBS.org, the PBS App, and PBS Passport.
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