W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause will premiere May 19, 2026 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS.
A new documentary about activist W.E.B. Du Bois is coming to AMERICAN MASTERS this spring. W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause, from Peabody Award-winning director Rita Coburn, will premiere May 19, 2026 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS.
The two-hour film examines Du Bois’s life from his birth, just five years after the Emancipation Proclamation, to his death, on the eve of THE MARCH on Washington in 1963. It also explores how his legacy as an activist continues to resonate in the modern day.
The film follows his life chronologically, featuring commentary from scholars, historians, artists, and biographers, including Raymond Arsenault, Karida Brown, Eric Foner, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Eddie Glaude Jr., Nikole Hannah-Jones, David Levering Lewis, Imani Perry, and more.
Throughout his life, Du Bois authored more than 20 books and fused scholarship with activism, deploying literature, data, and groundbreaking infographics to expose the roots of systemic racism. Drawing from his books, articles, speeches, and archival audio, Rebel With A Cause includes dramatic readings by Common, Courtney B. Vance, and Jeffrey Wright, with narration by Viola Davis.
Du Bois spearheaded the fight for racial justice. By showing the world “The Souls of Black Folk,” through his 1903 book by that same name, he declared: “The problem of the 20th century is the color line.” He co-founded the NAACP, helped launch the Niagara Movement, challenged contemporaries such as Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey, and contributed to the founding of the United Nations.
“My hope is that this documentary invites reflection and sparks dialogue, not only about who Du Bois was, but about the world we continue to shape in his wake,” said director Rita Coburn. “His life reminds us that scholarship and art, grounded in truth, can be weapons against oppression. To tell his story is to affirm that the pursuit of justice is as urgent TODAY as it was in his time.”
W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause is produced, written and directed by Rita Coburn. The Executive Producers are Andrew T. Carr, Sandra Evers-Manly, Leslie Fields-Cruz, B.K. Fulton, Denise A. Greene and Michael Kantor. The Archival Producer is Prudence Arndt and the Associate Producer is Eleanor Levine. The Director of Photography is Henry Adenbonojo, the Editor is K.A. Miille, and the musical score is by Kathryn Bostic.
Coburn previously directed and produced American Masters documentaries about Maya Angelou and Marian Anderson. Her film Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise (co-directed with Bob Hercules), which premiered on AMERICAN MASTERS in 2017, was an official selection at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and won the AFI Docs Audience Award.
Now in its 40th season on PBS, American Masters aims to illuminate the lives and creative journeys of our nation’s most influential artists. The series has earned 28 Emmy Awards — including 10 for Outstanding Nonfiction Series and five for Outstanding Nonfiction Special— two News & Documentary Emmys, 14 Peabodys, three Grammys, two Producers Guild Awards, an Oscar, and many other honors. The series is a production of The WNET Group.
Funding for W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause was provided by National Endowment for the Humanities, University of Pennsylvania, Larry Chatman, Una Jackman, John W. Rogers and Ariel Investments, The New School, Artemis Rising Foundation, John McArthur Forbes, Omega Educational Foundation, Inside Outside Communications Foundation, The Leslie and Roslyn Goldstein Foundation, The Better Angels Society and its members: Bobby and Polly Stein, Maureen Jane and Mark Perry, The Fullerton Family Charitable Fund, Diane and Hal Brierle, Gilchrist and Amy Berg.
