Barry Earl Beckham (born March 19, 1944) is an American playwright and novelist.

Biography

Beckham was born in 1944 in Philadelphia to Clarence and Mildred (née William) Beckham. At the age of nine, he moved with his mother to a Black neighborhood in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He graduated from Atlantic City High School and in 1962 he entered Brown University as one of only eight Black students in the freshman year[1] and one of three black graduates in 1966.[2]

He began his first novel, My Main Mother (1969), while in his senior year at Brown University. Beckham completed the novel at the age of 25 in 1969. He graduated in 1966 with a degree in English.[3] His second novel, Runner Mack (1972), was nominated for a National Book Award.

His play Garvey Lives!, about Jamaican-born Black Nationalist Marcus Garvey, was produced by George Houston Bass of the Rites and Reason Theatre, a Black theater group at Brown University.[1][3]

Beckham returned to Brown in 1970 as a visiting lecturer in English and African American Studies. He had a 17-year career at the university, including several years as the head of the graduate creative writing program.[3][1][4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Nelson, Emmanuel Sampath (1999). Contemporary African American Novelists: A Bio-bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313305016.
  2. ↑ Monaghan, Charles. "Book Report", The Washington Post, June 14, 1987. Accessed August 8, 2018. "A native of Atlantic City, N.J., Beckham was president of his class at Atlantic City High School before going to Brown, where he was one of three black graduates in the class of 1966."
  3. 1 2 3 "Beckham, Barry (1944)". The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature.
  4. ↑ "Guidebook for Blacks rates 114 colleges". Jet: 22. November 1, 1982.
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