On September 6, 1917, writer Richard Durham was born in rural Mississippi.
Happy 100th Birthday Richard!!
Durham spent 61 of his 66 years in Chicago, honing his pioneering creative skills, significant organizational talents and hard-hitting activist tendencies.
As indicated last month, I’m currently working on an audiobook version of Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom, my biography of this inventive, politically outspoken scribe. I plan to release this audiobook before the end of this year.
In the meantime, below are a couple of audio teasers from the book as read by award winning narrator Robin Miles. These samples showcase Durham’s creative mastery.
Enjoy and be inspired!
The following excerpt is from the Word Warrior book chapter exploring Durham’s Destination Freedom radio series (1948-1950). Destination Freedom dramatically highlighted the contributions of notable African Americans – in this case, Durham’s focus is on the man recognized as Father of the Blues, W.C. Handy.
During the 1960s, Richard Durham served as the editor of the Nation of Islam’s nationally distributed Muhammad Speaks newspaper. Here is an example of his editing and writing skills.