James "Biddy" Wood was a film journalist, promoter, and disc jockey. [1] He reported from Washington, D.C., [2] and edited the Afro-American Newspaper , also reporting on nightlife and jazz activity along Baltimore's Pennsylvania Avenue. He also owned a club and produced newsreels with William D. Alexander. [3]
Wood was born in Lexington, Kentucky on April 24, 1924. His parents were Francis Marion Wood, the first superintendent of Baltimore City Colored Schools, and Nellie née Hughes Wood. Raised in Catonsville, Maryland, he was nicknamed "Biddy" because he was small in stature as a child. [4]
Wood graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore and served in the military as a staff sergeant with the United States Army during World War II. He graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C. with a degree in Fine Arts. [2]
Wood married Damita Jo DeBlanc, who was one of the performers he managed. [2] [5]
A film journalist, [1] Wood reported from Washington, D.C., [2] and edited the Afro-American Newspaper . He also documented the jazz activity and other nightlife along Baltimore's Pennsylvania Avenue, and researched and produced newsreels with William D. Alexander [6] Wood also owned a jazz club called the Sweet Chariot Gospel Night Club in New York [7] [8]
In his final years, Wood lived in Baltimore's Bolton Hill neighborhood.
Wood died from respiratory failure int the hospice unit of Harbor Hospital Center in Baltimore on October 7, 2011 at age 87. He was preceded in death by his son John Jeffrey Wood.
Wood was interred at the Garrison Forest Veterans Cemetery in Owings Mills, Maryland. [9]
The Enoch Pratt Free Library is the free public library system of Baltimore, Maryland. Its Central Library is located on 400 Cathedral Street (southbound) and occupies the northeastern three quarters of a city block bounded by West Franklin Street to the north, Cathedral Street to the east, West Mulberry Street to the south, and Park Avenue (northbound) to the west. Located on historic Cathedral Hill, north of downtown, the library is also in the Mount Vernon-Belvedere-Mount Royal neighborhood and cultural and historic district.
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