Each week, journalist Julia Barton whips out her fascinating online newsletter, Continuous Wave. It explores the forgotten history of broadcast and all electronic media, and she recently featured an excerpt from my biography of Radio Hall of Fame writer Richard Durham.
Please see Julia’s introduction to her post below, and then check out her newsletter excerpt on Durham by clicking on The Price I Pay to be Free link.
Happy Reading!
Note from Julia: I’ve said it before — US network radio in the 1920s and 1930s was an absolute embarrassment when it came to race. Not only did early radio deploy crude ethnic stereotypes — with popular shows like Amos’n’Andy built around the “racial ventriloquy” of white men depicting Black characters — but it was almost impossible for actual Black people to get on network air as themselves, or Black writers to get dramatic scripts past gatekeepers.
That started to change with the onset of US involvement in World War II, as the government, which needed enlistment and buy-in from Black communities, asked radio to open its doors to more voices and points of view. From this opening came a new generation of Black radio actors and writers. One of the best was Richard Durham, a journalist with the Chicago Defender who in 1948 started the history series Destination Freedom on Chicago’s NBC powerhouse affiliate WMAQ (ironically, the same station where Amos’n’Andy got its start).
Howard University professor Sonja D. Williams has written a fascinating biography of Richard Durham called Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom. Williams is also a Peabody-award-winning audio producer, and it was in the course of researching the Smithsonian’s documentary series Black Radio: Telling It Like It Was that she first encountered Durham’s work. “I was struck by this series’ lyricism, dramatic flair, and fiery rhetoric,” she writes.
Today, with Williams’ permission, we’re bringing you the story of Destination Freedom, an excerpt from Word Warrior. After this, I hope that if you haven’t already, you’ll go read the whole book. Here’s Sonja Williams:
“The Price I Pay to Be Free” Sonja D. Williams on the timeless radio of Richard Durham
