A small funding spark has ignited a historical revelation, tracing a web of mid-century civil rights activism from a local Brooklyn parish all the way to West Africa. Backed by a second consecutive research grant from the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church (HSEC), historian Phil Sinitiere has uncovered rich, forgotten, and overlooked chapters in the historic alliance between legendary Black intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois and the Rev. William Howard Melish, a radical white pastor at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in the 1940s-1950s.

The project, titled William Howard Melish and W.E.B. Du Bois: Interracial Solidarity, Civil Rights, and Black Freedom at Church of the Holy Trinity, 1951-1963, explores how the Brooklyn church served as a vital, progressive crucible for racial justice. Working in close tandem with the Rev. Dr. Fr. Craig Townsend—one of the clerics at St. Anne and the Holy Trinity Church (SAHT) and director of the parish's Melish-Du Bois research project—Sinitiere’s global archival journey has successfully bridged continents and connected eras.

Global Discoveries

Sinitiere’s investigative work spanned multiple international repositories. In August 2025, during an intensive research trip to the regional archives in Accra, Ghana, Sinitiere discovered rare, illuminating correspondence between the Rev. Melish and Ghana’s visionary first president, Kwame Nkrumah. The trail of interracial solidarity continued in April 2026 at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where new discoveries within the W.E.B. Du Bois Collection further solidified the profound socio-political ties linking Du Bois, Melish, and the Holy Trinity community. Ongoing research in the W.E.B. Du Bois Papers at UMass Amherst added to the project’s documentary foundation. And Sinitiere and Townsend’s joint research in the SAHT archives and at The Center for Brooklyn History further linked the Melish and Du Bois story from America to Africa.

From Archives to the Printing Press

The rigorous archival work has culminated in four scholarly achievements:

• A Forthcoming Book: A newly materialized book project documenting Holy Trinity's 20th-century activism. Sinitiere and Townsend have engaged in promising preliminary discussions with NYU Press editor Jennifer Hammer, who has expressed keen interest in reviewing a formal book proposal.
• Memoir Edition: A critical editorial introduction to Melish’s West African memoir, "Du Bois, Nkrumah, and Ghana," which recounts his September 1963 trip to deliver a eulogy at Du Bois's funeral. This will be submitted to an open-source humanities journal.
• Historical Essay: A chronicle of the church's pioneering 1950s Negro History Week events, bound for the journal Anglican and Episcopal History.
• Archival Reflection: A co-authored memoiristic essay mapping their subjective experiences researching this cross-cultural history.

Braving the Elements

Beyond academic circles, the research is already capturing the public imagination. In late February 2026, building on the momentum of previous Black History Month forums, the researchers convened a public program titled "From Brooklyn to Ghana: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Rev. William Howard Melish." Despite severe blizzard conditions that paralyzed New York City, nearly 80 attendees gathered in person at the church, while a vast international audience tuned in via a global YouTube livestream. The overwhelming public response underscores the enduring relevance of the project, demonstrating how local church archives can reveal expansive, international histories of human rights and solidarity.

Phillip Luke Sinitiere is Senior Research Fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Center at UMass Amherst. He is also professor of history and humanities at the College of Biblical Studies, a predominately African American school located in Houston’s Mahatma Gandhi District. In addition to dozens of essays in academic journals that analyze W.E.B. Du Bois’s life and legacy, Sinitere’s Du Bois-related scholarly books include Citizen of the World: The Late Career and Legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois (Northwestern University Press, 2019); Forging Freedom in W.E.B. Du Bois’s Twilight Years: No Deed but Memory (University Press of Mississippi, 2023); and  Shirley Graham Du Bois: Artist, Activist, and Author in the African Diaspora (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025).