Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom

by Sonja D. Williams

Posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2007, Richard Durham creatively chronicled and brought to life the significant events of his times. Durham's trademark narrative style engaged listeners with fascinating characters, compelling details, and sharp images of pivotal moments in American and African American history and culture. In Word Warrior , award-winning radio producer Sonja D. Williams draws on archives and hard-to-access family records, as well as interviews with family and colleagues like Studs Terkel and Toni Morrison, to illuminate Durham's astounding career. Durham paved the way for black journalists as a dramatist and a star investigative reporter and editor for the pioneering black newspapers the Chicago Defender and Muhammed Speaks . Talented and versatile, he also created the acclaimed radio series Destination Freedom and Here Comes Tomorrow and wrote for popular radio fare like The Lone Ranger . Incredibly, his energies extended still further--to community and labor organizing, advising Chicago mayoral hopeful Harold Washington, and mentoring generations of activists. Incisive and in-depth, Word Warrior tells the story of a tireless champion of African American freedom, equality, and justice during an epoch that forever changed a nation.

Genres: History, Biography

272 pages, Paperback

First published August 20, 2015

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

For reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the writing, I did not finish this book. Perhaps it's too dry, too academic for me; I don't know. Whatever the reason, I had trouble staying interested in what I was reading and ended up giving up the book in the fifth chapter. 'Word Warrior' is well-researched and Ms. Williams clearly cares about Mr. Durham and his life. I wanted to be interested in what I was reading, I truly did.

[Mills College Library]

Biog D9618w 2015