Richard Durham: Difference between revisions

| resting_place = [[Burr Oak Cemetery]], [[Alsip, Illinois]]

| education = [[Hyde Park Academy High School|Hyde Park High School]]<br /> [[Northwestern University]]

'''Richard Isadore Durham''' (September 6, 1917 – April 27, 1984) was an African-American writer and radio producer.<ref name="auto">[https://www.radiohalloffame.com/richard-durham Richard Durham] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116032045/https://www.radiohalloffame.com/richard-durham |date=2022-11-16 }} – [[Radio Hall of Fame]]</ref><ref name=BlackPast>{{Cite web|url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/durham-richard-1917-1984/|title=Richard Durham (1917–1984) |date=March 28, 2014|publisher=[[BlackPast.org]]|access-date=November 13, 2022|archive-date=November 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104042150/https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/durham-richard-1917-1984/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Richard Durham Biography |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOMoZURRqlg&list=PLlUoyloCGlWwWpbzUccApPOWYsOP4mu0Z&index=2 |publisher=Old Time Radio Researchers|via=YouTube|format=audio|access-date=2022-11-13|archive-date=2022-11-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113181524/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOMoZURRqlg&list=PLlUoyloCGlWwWpbzUccApPOWYsOP4mu0Z&index=2|url-status=live}}</ref>

HeDurham was born in [[Raymond, Mississippi|Raymond]], [[Hinds County, Mississippi]],<ref name=BlackPast /> and moved with his family to Chicago in 1921.<ref name=LOC_Video>[https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-7193/ ''Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio & Freedom''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205010104/https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-7193/ |date=2022-12-05 }} – video presentation from the [[Library of Congress]] featuring author Sonja D. Williams</ref> He attended [[Hyde Park Academy High School|Hyde Park High School]] and [[Northwestern University]].<ref>Smith, Judith E. (204). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Fxwk-GXDdnYC&pg=PA208&dq=%22richard+durham%22+%22hyde+park%22+northwestern Visions of Belonging: Family Stories, Popular Culture, and Postwar Democracy, 1940 – 1960] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628075118/https://books.google.com/books?id=Fxwk-GXDdnYC&pg=PA208&dq=%22richard+durham%22+%22hyde+park%22+northwestern |date=2023-06-28 }}''. New York: Columbia University Press. p.&nbsp;208. {{ISBN|0-231-12170-90231121709}}.</ref>

InBeginning 1940in 1939, withDurham supportworked fromon the Illinois Writer's Project (part of the [[Federal Writers' Project]]).<ref name=Flow>{{cite web |last1=Williams |first1=Sonja |title=Word Warrior Richard Durham: Crusading Radio Scriptwriter |url=https://www.flowjournal.org/2015/05/word-warrior-richard-durham/ |website=Flow |publisher=Department of Radio-Television-Film, [[University of Texas at Austin]] |date=May 19, 2015 |access-date=November 12, 2023 |archive-date=March 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328045317/https://www.flowjournal.org/2015/05/word-warrior-richard-durham/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Dolinar, Brian|title=Federal Writers' Project |date=June 28, 2016 |publisher=African American Studies |isbn=978-0-19-028002-40190280024 |doi=10.1093/obo/9780190280024-0021 |oclc=6785186412}}</ref> DurhamIn 1940 he wrote two short radio dramas entitled ''The Story of [[Winslow Homer]]''<ref>{{OCLC|77309330}}</ref> and ''The Story of [[Auguste Rodin]]''.<ref>{{OCLC|77309329}}</ref> An essay, "The philosophical basis of [[Sterling McMurrin]]", was also published.<ref>{{OCLC|367540475}}</ref>

Leaving the IWP in 1942, Durham worked as a freelance writer. Two national shows, ''[[Lone Ranger|The Lone Ranger]]'' and ''[[Ma Perkins]]'', used his scripts.<ref name=Flow /> Durham wrote for ''[[New Masses]]'', the ''[[The Chicago Defender|Chicago Defender]]'', the ''[[Chicago Star]]'' and the ''[[Illinois Standard]]'' newspapers.<ref>Library of Congress: Chronicling America – [https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87062321/ The Chicago Star (Chicago, Ill.) 1946–1948] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205001819/https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87062321/ |date=2022-12-05 }}</ref><ref>Library of Congress: Chronicling America – [https://www.loc.gov/item/sn82015060/ The Illinois Standard (Chicago, Ill.) 1948–1949] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205003811/https://www.loc.gov/item/sn82015060/ |date=2022-12-05 }}</ref> At the same time he joined the [[Communist Party, USA]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pecinovsky |first1=Tony |title='Word Warrior' a good book on democratic media |journal=[[People's World]] |url=https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/word-warrior-a-good-book-on-democratic-media/ |date=December 9, 2015 |quote=Reviewing the book ''Word Warrior'' by Sonja D. Williams |access-date=November 12, 2023 |archive-date=November 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231112164658/https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/word-warrior-a-good-book-on-democratic-media/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

His first radio series was ''Democracy{{snd}}USA'', whichsponsored by the ''Chicago Defender''.<ref name=Flow /> It aired in 1946 on Chicago's [[WBBM (AM)|WBBM]].<ref name="Ellett">{{cite web |last1=Ellett |first1=Ryan |title='Destination Freedom': 'A Garage in Gainesville' and 'Execution Awaited' (September 25; October 2, 1949) |url=https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/DestinationFreedom.pdf |publisher=Library of Congress National Recording Preservation Board |access-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-date=December 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221225407/https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/DestinationFreedom.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The next year he started the dramatic Black [[soap opera]] radio series, ''[[Here Comes Tomorrow (radio show)|Here Comes Tomorrow]]'' on [[WYLL#WJJD|WJJD]].<ref name="Ellett"/>

Following his early radio writings, Durham wrote and produced the [[radio drama]] ''[[Destination Freedom]]''.<ref name="dunning">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22destination+freedom%22&pg=PA197 | last=Dunning| first=John| author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) | title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio| date=1998| publisher=Oxford University Press| location=New York| isbn=978-0-19-507678-30195076783| pages=196–198| edition=Revised| accessdate=17 November 2022| archive-date=14 April 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414173003/https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22destination+freedom%22&pg=PA197| url-status=live}}</ref> In cooperation with ''[[The Chicago Defender]]'', he began this series over NBC Chicago outlet [[WSCR#1940s|WMAQ]] in July 1948, with scripts emphasizing the progress of African-Americans from the days of slavery to the ongoing struggle for racial justice.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Sonja D. |title=Destination Freedom: A Historic Radio Series About Black Life |journal=Journal of Radio & Audio Media |date=October 27, 2016 |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=263–277 |doi=10.1080/19376529.2016.1223973 |s2cid=157918778 |issn=1937-6529 |oclc=7065588339}}</ref> Two episodes – "A Garage in Gainesville" and "Execution Awaited"{{snd}}are part of the [[Library of Congress]] [[National Recording Registry]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ellett |first1=Ryan |title=''Destination Freedom'', 'A Garage in Gainesville' and 'Execution Awaited' (September 25; October 2, 1949) |url=https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/DestinationFreedom.pdf |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-date=December 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221225407/https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/DestinationFreedom.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

After ''Destination Freedom'' Durham was the national program director of the [[United Packinghouse Workers of America]]. He resigned in 1958.<ref>[[Chicago Public Library]] – [https://mts.lib.uchicago.edu/collections/findingaids/index.php?eadid=MTS.durham Mapping The Stacks – Guide to the Richard Durham Papers, 1939–1999] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117190122/https://mts.lib.uchicago.edu/collections/findingaids/index.php?eadid=MTS.durham |date=2022-11-17 }}</ref> He then was a [[press agent]] for [[T. R. M. Howard#Politics|T. R. Howard]] during Howard's [[Illinois's 1st congressional district#Election results1958|1958 run for Congress]].{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

In the 1960s Durham was the editor of ''[[Muhammad Speaks]]'', a [[Nation of Islam]] newspaper in Chicago.<ref>{{cite web

| publisher=A&E publishers

| url =http://www.finalcall.com/national/savioursday2k/m_speaks.htm

| access-date = 17 November 2022

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.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qb0-CgAAQBAJ&dq=Bird+of+the+Iron+Feather+Jonah+Rhodes&pg=PA135 |title=Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom |chapter=Chapter 10: Struggling to Fly |isbn=978-0-252-09798-00252097980 |last=Williams |first=Sonja D. |date=August 30, 2015 |pages=130–145 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=June 25, 2023 |archive-date=June 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627141302/https://books.google.com/books?id=qb0-CgAAQBAJ&dq=Bird+of+the+Iron+Feather+Jonah+Rhodes&pg=PA135 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Sergio Mims, February 24, 2017, [https://shadowandact.com/amp/bird-of-an-iron-feather-televisions-first-black-soap-opera-that-was-too-hot-for-television "''Bird of an Iron Feather'' – Television's First Black Soap Opera That Was Too Hot for Television] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205003820/https://shadowandact.com/amp/bird-of-an-iron-feather-televisions-first-black-soap-opera-that-was-too-hot-for-television |date=2022-12-05 }}, ''Shadow & Act''.</ref><ref>[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"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225201724/https://current.org/2016/06/remembering-a-public-tv-drama-that-delved-into-lives-of-black-chicagoans/ |date=2022-12-25 }} Sonja D. Williams, June 14, 2016, Current.org</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/bird-iron-feather|title=Bird of the Iron Feather|date=October 23, 2017|website=Television Academy Interviews|access-date=December 5, 2022|archive-date=March 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324002129/https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/bird-iron-feather|url-status=live}}</ref>

He had a supporting role in the 1972 film ''[[Sounder (film)|Sounder]]''.<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/90934/sounder#credits ''Sounder'' credits] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116233749/https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/90934/sounder#credits |date=2022-11-16 }} – [[Turner Classic Movies]] database</ref><ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10716987/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t11 Richard Durham] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205182415/https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10716987/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t11 |date=2022-12-05 }} – IMDb.com</ref>

He also co-wrote ''[[The Greatest: My Own Story]]'', the 1975 autobiography of [[Muhammad Ali]]. The book was adapted into a 1977 movie of [[The Greatest (1977 film)|the same name]].<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076111/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_lk ''The Greatest''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205182413/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076111/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_lk |date=2022-12-05 }} – [[IMDb]]</ref> In 1980 Ali and Durham wrote the article "Why I Must Fight" for ''[[Umoja Sasa]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ali |first1=Muhammed |last2=Durham |first2=Richard |title=Why I MustFight |journal=Umoja Sasa |date=October–November 1980 |volume=20 |pages=20–22 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43690621 |publisher=Career Communications Group |jstor=43690621 |issn=2472-0674 |oclc=6178372480 |access-date=2023-01-25 |archive-date=2023-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125202256/https://www.jstor.org/stable/43690621 |url-status=live }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Clarice Durham |url=https://www.wwdmf.org/clarice-durham |publisher=Woods, Wyatt, and Durham Foundation |access-date=20 December 2022 |archive-date=20 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220183820/https://www.wwdmf.org/clarice-durham |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Clarice Durham (Obituary) |url=https://legacy.suntimes.com/us/obituaries/chicagosuntimes/name/clarice-durham-obituary?id=18380871 |publisher=Chicago Sun-Times |access-date=20 December 2022 |date=6 May 2018 |archive-date=20 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220183819/https://legacy.suntimes.com/us/obituaries/chicagosuntimes/name/clarice-durham-obituary?id=18380871 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Photo Standalone 17 -- [No Title]|author=|date=March 6, 1954|work=The Chicago Defender|page=8|quote=A LIVELYLively SQUARESquare DANCEDance captures the feet and fancy of children of Chicago's Ellis Community Center, 4608 Ellis ave... The dances were complete with music and dance caller and youngsters loved every minute of it. 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.|id={{ProQuest|492884645}}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=High Schools Are Proud of Star Seniors: Classmates Choose Star Seniors; Hyde Park|author=|date=June 19, 1966|work=The Chicago Defender|page=2, Sec.&nbsp;10|quote=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. He lives with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Durham, at 6059 Harper av.|id={{ProQuest|178977830}}}}</ref>

Durham himself died on April 27, 1984, of a heart attack while on a trip to New York City.<ref name=Williams>Williams, Sonja D. (2015). ''[https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p081392 Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116021229/https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p081392 |date=2022-11-16 }}'' University of Illinois Press, New Black Studies Series, {{ISBN|978-0-252-08139-20252081392}}, {{OCLC|915152208}}, {{JSTOR|10.5406/j.ctt16d68sz}}</ref>{{rp|177}} Following a memorial cemetery at A.A. Rayner and Sons mortuary, his cremated remains were interred at [[Burr Oak Cemetery]] in [[Alsip, Illinois]].<ref name=Williams/>{{rp|2–7, 178}}

* [[Carlton Moss]] – a 1930–40's1930–40s Black radio dramatist

* Williams, Sonja D. (2015). ''[https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p081392 Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom]'' University of Illinois Press, New Black Studies Series, {{ISBN|978-00252081392|978-252-081390252097980|978-20252039874 }}, {{OCLC|915152208}}

* {{cite book |last1=Dolinar |first1=Brian |editor-first1=Brian |editor-last1=Dolinar |title=The Negro in Illinois : the WPA papers |date=2013 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |location=Urbana |isbn=978-0-252-03769-60252037696 |oclc=885228982 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8iwrdivn4dMC |doi=10.5406/illinois/9780252037696.001.0001}}

* {{cite book |editor1-last=MacDonald |editor1-first=J. Fred |editor-link=J. Fred MacDonald|title=Richard Durham's Destination Freedom |date=1989 |publisher=Praeger |location=New York |isbn=978-0-275-93138-40275931384|oclc=18986323}}<!-- Contains scripts for 15 of the shows -->

* {{cite book |last1=MacDonald |first1=J. Fred |title=Don't Touch That Dial. Radio Programing in American Life (1920–1960) |year=1991|orig-year=1979|publisher=Nelson-Hall |location=Chicago |pages=327–370 |chapter=Stride Toward Freedom – Blacks in Radio Programing|isbn=978-0-88229-528-20882295282|oclc=29810460}}

* {{cite journal |last1=Rocksborough-Smith |first1=Ian |title='I had gone in there thinking I was going to be a cultural worker: Richard Durham, Oscar Brown, Jr. and the United Packinghouse Workers Association in Chicago |journal=[[Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society]]|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |location=Springfield, IL|date=Fall 2016 |volume=109 |issue=3 |pages=252–299|oclc=60620289|issn=2328-3335 |JSTORjstor= 10.5406/jillistathistsoc.109.3.0252|doi=10.5406/jillistathistsoc.109.3.0252}}

* {{cite book |last1=Savage |first1=Barbara Dianne |title=Broadcasting Freedom: Radio, War, and the Politics of Race 1938–1948 |date=1999 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill & London |isbn=978-0-8078-4804-30807848043 |pages=246–270 |chapter=Chapter 6: ''New World A'Coming'' and ''Destination Freedom''|oclc=40135343}}

* ''Richard Durham's Destination Freedom : scripts from radio's Black legacy, 1948–50'' (with [[J. Fred MacDonald]]), {{ISBN|978-0-275-93138-40275931384}} {{OCLC|18986323|715382247}}

* {{cite book |last1=Tracy |first1=Steven C. |title=Writers of the Black Chicago Renaissance|chapter=Richard Durham |page =185|date=2011 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |location=Urbana |isbn=978-0-252-09342-50252093425 |oclc=783468908 |jstor=10.5406/j.ctt1xcfxx}}