Sitting with the renowned Chicago-based scholar, Timuel D. Black Jr. (1918-2021)
About the Author
Sonja D. Williams is a professor in the Howard University Department of Media, Journalism and Film in Washington, DC. She has worked as a broadcast journalist and media trainer in the Caribbean, Africa and throughout the United States, receiving numerous
Word Warrior
Called “marvelously written and completely captivating,” this 2016 Phillis Wheatley Book Awards finalist documents the life of gifted broadcast dramatist, journalist and activist, Richard Durham. Artists like Langston Hughes, Toni Morrison, Oscar Brown, Jr. and Studs Terkel – along with boxing champion
My Work
Several of Sonja D. Williams’ broadcast productions have been award winning, including a 2009 Gracie Award for her work as a Co-Executive Producer of Uncrowned Queens: Voices of African American Women, a 13-part radio series about extraordinary black women community
Singing for Love and Hope – Saturday, November 15, 2025
Happy Fall!
If you live in the DMV and love choral music, you might want to check out the upcoming concert of the Prince Georges County Choral Society (PGCCS).
The PGCCS will offer Songs of Hope for a Better World on Saturday, November 15th at 6:30pm in the Dionne Warwick Theater of Bowie State University’s Fine and Performing Arts Center, 14000 Jericho Park Road, Bowie, Maryland.
And to hear just a taste of the PGCCS’s musical magic, please click here
We hope to see you on Saturday!
Continuous Wave: “The Price I Pay To Be Free,” and the Timeless Radio of Richard Durham
Each week, journalist Julia Barton whips out her fascinating online newsletter, Continuous Wave. It explores the forgotten history of broadcast and all electronic media, and she recently featured an excerpt from my biography of Radio Hall of Fame writer Richard Durham.
Please see Julia’s introduction to her post below, and then check out her newsletter excerpt on Durham by clicking on The Price I Pay to be Free link.
Happy Reading!
Note from Julia: I’ve said it before — US network radio in the 1920s and 1930s was an absolute embarrassment when it came to race. Not only did early radio deploy crude ethnic stereotypes — with popular shows like Amos’n’Andy built around the “racial ventriloquy” of white men depicting Black characters — but it was almost impossible for actual Black people to get on network air as themselves, or Black writers to get dramatic scripts past gatekeepers.
That started to change with the onset of US involvement in World War II, as the government, which needed enlistment and buy-in from Black communities, asked radio to open its doors to more voices and points of view. From this opening came a new generation of Black radio actors and writers. One of the best was Richard Durham, a journalist with the Chicago Defender who in 1948 started the history series Destination Freedom on Chicago’s NBC powerhouse affiliate WMAQ (ironically, the same station where Amos’n’Andy got its start).
Howard University professor Sonja D. Williams has written a fascinating biography of Richard Durham called Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom. Williams is also a Peabody-award-winning audio producer, and it was in the course of researching the Smithsonian’s documentary series Black Radio: Telling It Like It Was that she first encountered Durham’s work. “I was struck by this series’ lyricism, dramatic flair, and fiery rhetoric,” she writes.
Today, with Williams’ permission, we’re bringing you the story of Destination Freedom, an excerpt from Word Warrior. After this, I hope that if you haven’t already, you’ll go read the whole book. Here’s Sonja Williams:
“The Price I Pay to Be Free” Sonja D. Williams on the timeless radio of Richard Durham