On Saturday, July 19, 2025, Richard Blake unveiled his W.E.B. Du Bois sculpture in front of the Great Barrington, MA library. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois — or W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) — was an American sociologist, socialist, historian and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist who was born in Great Barrington. The sculpture was unveiled at the event by Du Bois’ great-grandson Jeffrey Alan Peck, who serves on the board of the W.E.B. Du Bois Museum Foundation. Hundreds of people attended the unveiling, including former Governor Deval Patrick and State Representative Leigh Davis and State Senator Paul Mark. Peck read a quote from Du Bois’s speech On the Future of the American Negro: “We should measure the prosperity of a nation not by the number of millionaires but by the absence of poverty, the prevalence of health, the efficiency of public schools, and the number of people who can and do read worthwhile books.” On Friday, July 18, sculptor Richard Blake spoke about fashioning the bronze statue and displaying the various stages of the process at neighboring Chesterwood, Daniel Chester French’s home in the Berkshires.