Richard Durham Explained

Birth Date:6 September 1917
Birth Place:Raymond, Hinds County, Mississippi
Death Place:New York City, New York
Resting Place:Burr Oak Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois
Education:Hyde Park High School
Northwestern University
Occupation:Writer (radio and books)
Known For:Promotion of American civil rights
Notable Works:Destination Freedom
Spouse:Clarice Davis
Children:Mark Durham
Awards:Radio Hall of Fame
National Recording Registry (Library of Congress)
Audie Award for Autobiography or Memoir

Richard Isadore Durham (September 6, 1917 – April 27, 1984) was an African-American writer and radio producer.[1] [2] [3]

Early life

Durham was born in Raymond, Hinds County, Mississippi, and moved with his family to Chicago in 1921.[4] He attended Hyde Park High School and Northwestern University.[5]

Career

Beginning in 1939, Durham worked on the Illinois Writer's Project (part of the Federal Writers' Project).[6] [7] In 1940 he wrote two short radio dramas entitled The Story of Winslow Homer and The Story of Auguste Rodin. An essay, "The philosophical basis of Sterling McMurrin", was also published.

Leaving the IWP in 1942, Durham worked as a freelance writer. Two national shows, The Lone Ranger and Ma Perkins, used his scripts. Durham wrote for New Masses, the Chicago Defender, the Chicago Star and the Illinois Standard newspapers.[8] [9] At the same time he joined the Communist Party, USA.[10]

His first radio series was DemocracyUSA, sponsored by the Chicago Defender. It aired in 1946 on Chicago's WBBM.[11] The next year he started the dramatic Black soap opera radio series Here Comes Tomorrow on WJJD.[11]

Destination Freedom

Following his early radio writings, Durham wrote and produced the radio drama Destination Freedom.[12] In cooperation with The Chicago Defender, he began this series over NBC Chicago outlet WMAQ in July 1948, with scripts emphasizing the progress of African-Americans from the days of slavery to the ongoing struggle for racial justice.[13] Two episodes – "A Garage in Gainesville" and "Execution Awaited"are part of the Library of Congress National Recording Registry.[14]

Post-Destination Freedom

After Destination Freedom Durham was the national program director of the United Packinghouse Workers of America. He resigned in 1958.[15] He then was a press agent for T. R. Howard during Howard's 1958 run for Congress.

Muhammed Speaks editing

In the 1960s Durham was the editor of Muhammad Speaks, a Nation of Islam newspaper in Chicago.[16]

Bird of the Iron Feather soap opera

While an editor of Muhammed Speaks Durham created a soap opera for Chicago's WTTW television station. Bird of the Iron Feather was the first all-Black television soap opera, and ran for 21 episodes, three times a week starting in January 1970. The show's title came from a speech by Frederick Douglass given in 1847.[17] [18] [19] [20]

Other media

He had a supporting role in the 1972 film Sounder.[21] [22] He also co-wrote , the 1975 autobiography of Muhammad Ali. The book was adapted into a 1977 movie of the same name.[23] In 1980 Ali and Durham wrote the article "Why I Must Fight" for Umoja Sasa.[24]

Durham also wrote for the Illinois Writers Project, Here Comes Tomorrow (WJJD/Chicago) and Ebony Magazine.[1] His own short book of poetry, Night Windowpanes, was published in 1975.[25]

Political activity

During Harold Washington's 1982 mayoral election Durham worked to improve Washington's political speeches.

Personal life

From at least the late 1940s until his death, Durham was married to fellow Northwestern alumnus and prominent Chicago educator Clarice Davis (1919–2018), with whom he had one child, a son, Mark.[26] [27] [28] [29]

Durham died on April 27, 1984, of a heart attack while on a trip to New York City.[30] Following a memorial cemetery at A.A. Rayner and Sons mortuary, his cremated remains were interred at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.[30]

See also

References

Books cited, with reviews

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.radiohalloffame.com/richard-durham Richard Durham
  2. Web site: Richard Durham (1917–1984). March 28, 2014. BlackPast.org. November 13, 2022. November 4, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221104042150/https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/durham-richard-1917-1984/. live.
  3. Web site: Richard Durham Biography. February 2022 . Old Time Radio Researchers. YouTube. audio. 2022-11-13. 2022-11-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20221113181524/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOMoZURRqlg&list=PLlUoyloCGlWwWpbzUccApPOWYsOP4mu0Z&index=2. live.
  4. https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-7193/ Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio & Freedom
  5. Smith, Judith E. (204). Visions of Belonging: Family Stories, Popular Culture, and Postwar Democracy, 1940 – 1960 . New York: Columbia University Press. p. 208. .
  6. Web site: Williams . Sonja . Word Warrior Richard Durham: Crusading Radio Scriptwriter . Flow . . May 19, 2015 . November 12, 2023 . March 28, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230328045317/https://www.flowjournal.org/2015/05/word-warrior-richard-durham/ . live .
  7. Book: Dolinar, Brian. Federal Writers' Project . June 28, 2016 . African American Studies . 978-0190280024 . 10.1093/obo/9780190280024-0021 . 6785186412.
  8. Library of Congress: Chronicling America – The Chicago Star (Chicago, Ill.) 1946–1948
  9. Library of Congress: Chronicling America – The Illinois Standard (Chicago, Ill.) 1948–1949
  10. Pecinovsky . Tony . 'Word Warrior' a good book on democratic media . . December 9, 2015 . Reviewing the book Word Warrior by Sonja D. Williams . November 12, 2023 . November 12, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231112164658/https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/word-warrior-a-good-book-on-democratic-media/ . live .
  11. Web site: Ellett . Ryan . 'Destination Freedom': 'A Garage in Gainesville' and 'Execution Awaited' (September 25; October 2, 1949) . Library of Congress National Recording Preservation Board . December 30, 2022 . December 21, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221221225407/https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/DestinationFreedom.pdf . live .
  12. Book: Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. John Dunning (detective fiction author). 1998. Oxford University Press. New York. 978-0195076783. 196–198. Revised. 17 November 2022. 14 April 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230414173003/https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22destination+freedom%22&pg=PA197. live.
  13. Williams . Sonja D. . Destination Freedom: A Historic Radio Series About Black Life . Journal of Radio & Audio Media . October 27, 2016 . 23 . 2 . 263–277 . 10.1080/19376529.2016.1223973 . 157918778 . 1937-6529 . 7065588339.
  14. Web site: Ellett . Ryan . Destination Freedom, 'A Garage in Gainesville' and 'Execution Awaited' (September 25; October 2, 1949) . Library of Congress . December 30, 2022 . December 21, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221221225407/https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/DestinationFreedom.pdf . live .
  15. [Chicago Public Library]
  16. Web site: Askia . Muhammad . Askia Muhammad . Muhammad Speaks a Trailblazer in the Newspaper Industry . A&E publishers . March 14, 2001 . 17 November 2022 . 16 November 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221116233749/http://www.finalcall.com/national/savioursday2k/m_speaks.htm . live .
  17. Book: Williams, Sonja D. . https://books.google.com/books?id=qb0-CgAAQBAJ&dq=Bird+of+the+Iron+Feather+Jonah+Rhodes&pg=PA135 . Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom . Chapter 10: Struggling to Fly . 978-0252097980 . August 30, 2015 . 130–145 . University of Illinois Press . . June 25, 2023 . June 27, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230627141302/https://books.google.com/books?id=qb0-CgAAQBAJ&dq=Bird+of+the+Iron+Feather+Jonah+Rhodes&pg=PA135 . live .
  18. Sergio Mims, February 24, 2017, "Bird of an Iron Feather – Television's First Black Soap Opera That Was Too Hot for Television, Shadow & Act.
  19. https://current.org/2016/06/remembering-a-public-tv-drama-that-delved-into-lives-of-black-chicagoans/ "Remembering a public TV drama that delved into lives of black Chicagoans"
  20. Web site: Bird of the Iron Feather. October 23, 2017. Television Academy Interviews. December 5, 2022. March 24, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230324002129/https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/bird-iron-feather. live.
  21. https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/90934/sounder#credits Sounder credits
  22. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10716987/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t11 Richard Durham
  23. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076111/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_lk The Greatest
  24. Ali . Muhammed . Durham . Richard . Why I MustFight . Umoja Sasa . October–November 1980 . 20 . 20–22 . Career Communications Group . 43690621 . 2472-0674 . 6178372480 . 2023-01-25 . 2023-01-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230125202256/https://www.jstor.org/stable/43690621 . live .
  25. Book: Durham . Richard . Night Windowpanes . 1975 . Vantage Press . New York . 28545023.
  26. Web site: Clarice Durham . Woods, Wyatt, and Durham Foundation . 20 December 2022 . 20 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221220183820/https://www.wwdmf.org/clarice-durham . live .
  27. Web site: Clarice Durham (Obituary) . Chicago Sun-Times . 20 December 2022 . 6 May 2018 . 20 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221220183819/https://legacy.suntimes.com/us/obituaries/chicagosuntimes/name/clarice-durham-obituary?id=18380871 . live .
  28. News: Photo Standalone 17 [No Title]. March 6, 1954. The Chicago Defender. 8. A Lively Square Dance captures the feet and fancy of children of Chicago's Ellis Community Center... . In the photo, Mark Durham and Eleanor Newhoff pause to catch their breath. Mark is the son of Mrs. Clarice Davis Durham, director of the school.. .
  29. News: High Schools Are Proud of Star Seniors: Classmates Choose Star Seniors; Hyde Park. June 19, 1966. The Chicago Defender. 2, Sec. 10. Mark Durham, 17, the star senior from Hyde Park High School, is a football player who writes poetry. [...] He said he caught the 'writing bug' from his father, who is also a free-lance writer. .... .
  30. Williams, Sonja D. (2015). Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom University of Illinois Press, New Black Studies Series,,,

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Richard Durham".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.