Herb Boyd

Herb Boyd
Boyd speaking at the National Writers Union (NWU – UAW Local 1981) 30th anniversary celebration in NYC
Born (1938-11-01) November 1, 1938 (age 86)
Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
Alma materWayne State University
Occupation(s)Journalist, teacher, author, and activist

Herb Boyd (born November 1, 1938)[1] is an American journalist, teacher, author, and activist. His articles appear regularly in the New York Amsterdam News. He teaches black studies at the City College of New York and the College of New Rochelle.[2]

Biography

Boyd was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and grew up in Detroit, Michigan.[1][3] He met Malcolm X in 1958 and credits him as an inspiration: "[Malcolm] set me on the path to become the writer-activist I am, to try to live up to the very ennobling things that he represented."[4]

Boyd attended Wayne State University, graduating with a BA degree in philosophy.[5] During the late 1960s, he helped establish the first black studies classes there and went on to teach at the university for 12 years.[6] He also co-developed and instructed the initial curriculum in jazz studies at the Oberlin Conservatory.[7]

In addition to the Amsterdam News, Boyd's work has been published in The Black Scholar, The City Sun, Down Beat, Emerge, and Essence.[1][2] He has been recognized with awards from the National Association of Black Journalists and the New York Association of Black Journalists.[2] In 2014, the National Association of Black Journalists inducted Boyd into its Hall of Fame.[8]

Brotherman, which Boyd co-edited with Robert L. Allen, was given the 1995 American Book Award.[9] His biography Baldwin's Harlem was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in 2009.[10]

Boyd was managing editor of The Black World Today, a now-defunct online news service.[1][11]

In 2018, Boyd was honored with the Outstanding Career Achievement Award at the James Aronson Social Justice Journalism Awards at Hunter College. Boyd credited his wife, writer and professor Elza Dinwiddie-Boyd, for editing his published books.[12]

Selected works

  • African History for Beginners, For Beginners, 2007. ISBN 978-1-934389-18-8
  • Autobiography of a People: Three Centuries of African-American History Told by Those Who Lived It (editor), Anchor Books, 2000. ISBN 978-0-385-49279-9
  • Baldwin's Harlem: A Biography of James Baldwin, Atria, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7432-9307-5
  • Black Detroit: A People's History of Self-Determination, Amistad Press, 2017. ISBN 978-0-06-234662-9
  • Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America (co-editor with Robert L. Allen), One World/Ballantine, 1995. ISBN 978-0-345-37670-1
  • By Any Means Necessary: Malcolm X: Real, Not Reinvented (co-editor with Ron Daniels, Maulana Karenga, and Haki R. Madhubuti), Third World Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0-88378-336-8
  • Yusef Lateef; Herb Boyd (2005). The Gentle Giant: The Autobiography of Yusef Lateef. Morton Books Inc. ISBN 978-1929188123.
  • We Shall Overcome: The History of the Civil Rights Movement as It Happened, Sourcebooks, 2004. ISBN 978-1-4022-0213-1

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Herb Boyd". Contemporary Authors. January 1, 2005. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved May 31, 2012. (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b c "Veteran Author Nominated for an NAACP Image Award". New York Amsterdam News. February 5, 2009. ProQuest 390365419.
  3. ^ Angaza, Maitefa (June 10, 2010). "African Voices Honors Four Treasures". New York Amsterdam News. ProQuest 516370889.
  4. ^ "Recollecting and Defending the Legacy of Malcolm X Today". New York Amsterdam News. May 26, 2011. ProQuest 873587980.. Also at New York Amsterdam News, December 13, 2012.
  5. ^ "Herb Boyd". The History Makers. December 2013. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  6. ^ Anderson, Rhonda (April 3, 1996). "Attacks on Afrocentrism Threaten Black Studies". Michigan Chronicle. ProQuest 390082999.
  7. ^ Boyd, Herb (January 28, 2016). "Outrage at Oberlin College". New York Amsterdam News. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
  8. ^ "2014 NABJ Hall of Fame Induction and Reception". National Association of Black Journalists. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  9. ^ "Department of Energy To Hold Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Program". US Fed News Service. January 5, 2007. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved May 31, 2012. (subscription required)
  10. ^ "The 40th NAACP Image Awards". Archived from the original on May 11, 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  11. ^ White, Claire E. (November 1997). "Interview with Herb Boyd". The Internet Writing Journal. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
  12. ^ "Herb Boyd receives social justice award". New York Amsterdam News. May 24, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2021.


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