Biddy Wood

Last updated

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]

Contents

Early life and education

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]

Career

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.

Death

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]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enoch Pratt Free Library</span> Public library system in Baltimore, Maryland, US

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.

<i>The Baltimore Sun</i> Daily broadsheet newspaper in the US

The Baltimore Sun is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interstate 895</span> Highway in Maryland

Interstate 895 (I-895) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the US state of Maryland. Known as the Harbor Tunnel Thruway, the highway runs 11.44 miles (18.41 km) between one junction with I-95 in Elkridge and another interchange with I-95 on the east side of Baltimore. I-895 is a toll road that crosses the Patapsco River estuary via the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel, connecting U.S. Route 1 (US 1), I-695, and the Baltimore–Washington Parkway in the southwestern suburbs of Baltimore with US 40 on the east side of Baltimore. In conjunction with a pair of spurs, unsigned I-895A and I-895B, I-895 provides access to the tunnel from I-97 and Maryland Route 2 (MD 2) in Glen Burnie. The highway is designed for through traffic by having partial interchanges that require vehicles from almost all starting points to pass through the tunnel and the tunnel toll plaza, where a $1.40-$6.00 toll is charged to passenger vehicles, before exiting the facility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gonzaga College High School</span> School in Washington, D.C., United States

Gonzaga College High School is a private Catholic college-preparatory high school for boys in Washington, D.C. Founded by the Jesuits in 1821 as the Washington Seminary, Gonzaga is named in honor of Aloysius Gonzaga, an Italian saint from the 16th century. Gonzaga is the oldest boys' high school in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryland, My Maryland</span> Former state anthem of Maryland

"Maryland, My Maryland" was the state song of the U.S. state of Maryland from 1939 until 2021. The song is set to the melody of "Lauriger Horatius" — the same tune "O Tannenbaum" was taken from. The lyrics are from a nine-stanza poem written by James Ryder Randall (1839–1908) in 1861. The state's general assembly adopted "Maryland, My Maryland" as the state song on April 29, 1939.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reservoir Hill, Baltimore</span> Historic house in Maryland, United States

Reservoir Hill is a historic neighborhood in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is located south of Druid Hill Park, north of Bolton Hill, east of Penn-North, and west of Jones Falls. It is bounded by Druid Park Lake Drive, the Jones Falls Expressway, North Avenue, and McCulloh Street. It is contained in the 21217 ZIP code.

Carl Murphy was an African-American journalist, publisher, civil rights leader, and educator. He was publisher of the Afro-American newspaper chain of Baltimore, Maryland, expanding its coverage with regional editions in several major cities of the Washington, D.C., area, as well as Newark, New Jersey, a destination of thousands of rural blacks in the Great Migration to the North.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Lacy</span> American sportswriter

Samuel Harold Lacy was an African-American and Native American sportswriter, reporter, columnist, editor, and television/radio commentator who worked in the sports journalism field for parts of nine decades. Credited as a persuasive figure in the movement to racially integrate sports, Lacy in 1948 became one of the first black members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). In 1997, he received the J. G. Taylor Spink Award for outstanding baseball writing from the BBWAA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Ferguson (politician)</span> American politician (born 1983)

William Claiborne Ferguson IV is an American politician, attorney, and former schoolteacher. He is a Democratic member of the Maryland Senate, representing the 46th legislative district since 2011, and serving as the President of the Maryland Senate since January 8, 2020. The district is composed of parts of Baltimore City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabina Mattfeldt, Baltimore</span> Neighborhood statistical area in Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Sabina Mattfeldt is a neighborhood in the North District of Baltimore, located beside the Jones Falls, between the neighborhoods of Mount Washington (west) and Poplar Hill (east). Its name comes from the two streets, Sabina Avenue and Mattfeldt Avenue, where most of the neighborhood's homes are located.

Chicken George was a fast food restaurant chain based in Baltimore, Maryland. The first restaurant was established by Theodore Holmes in November 1979 in the Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore. The company later expanded to a total of six restaurants in Baltimore, and also branched out to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C. Franchise restaurants were also existent in Atlanta, Los Angeles and in other cities. In September 1991, the company filed for bankruptcy to be dissolved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lafayette Gilchrist</span> American jazz pianist and composer (born 1967)

Lafayette Gilchrist is an American jazz pianist and composer. As of January 2014, he lived in Baltimore. He has had a long association with saxophonist David Murray, with whom he has toured internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Henderson (photojournalist)</span>

Paul Samuel Henderson was an African-American photojournalist for the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper from 1929 through c. 1960. He became well known for taking pictures of large groups and distant objects atop a ladder he carried. Henderson primarily photographed people, including church groups, politicians, graduations, local college and university groups, weddings, events during the Civil Rights Movement, and more. He was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a vestryman at St. James Church, charter member of the Druid Hill Avenue Neighborhood Club, assistant treasurer of a local Frontiers International club, and supported The Salvation Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boyd Rutherford</span> 9th Lieutenant Governor of Maryland

Boyd Kevin Rutherford is an American politician, businessman and attorney who served as the ninth lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2015 to 2023.

Carl Clark (1933–2015) was an American photographer and United States Army veteran.

Dewey Lee Fleming was an American journalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of African Americans in Baltimore</span> Ethnic group in Baltimore

The history of African Americans in Baltimore dates back to the 17th century when the first African slaves were being brought to the Province of Maryland. Majority white for most of its history, Baltimore transitioned to having a black majority in the 1970s. As of the 2010 Census, African Americans are the majority population of Baltimore at 63% of the population. As a majority black city for the last several decades with the 5th largest population of African Americans of any city in the United States, African Americans have had an enormous impact on the culture, dialect, history, politics, and music of the city. Unlike many other Northern cities whose African-American populations first became well-established during the Great Migration, Baltimore has a deeply rooted African-American heritage, being home to the largest population of free black people half a century before the Emancipation Proclamation. The migrations of Southern and Appalachian African Americans between 1910 and 1970 brought thousands of African Americans to Baltimore, transforming the city into the second northernmost majority-black city in the United States after Detroit. The city's African-American community is centered in West Baltimore and East Baltimore. The distribution of African Americans on both the West and the East sides of Baltimore is sometimes called "The Black Butterfly", while the distribution of white Americans in Central and Southeast Baltimore is called "The White L."

Camay Calloway Murphy is a retired American educator. The daughter of jazz bandleader and singer Cab Calloway, Murphy was one of the first African-Americans to teach in white schools in Virginia. As an educator, Murphy emphasized music and multiculturalism. She founded the Cab Calloway Jazz Institute and Museum at Coppin State University. She was also the chairman of Baltimore's Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center and commissioner of Baltimore City Public Schools' Board of Education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marlon Amprey</span> American politician (born 1987)

Marlon D. Amprey is an American politician who has served as member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 40 since 2021.

Laura W. Murphy is an American lobbyist and civil rights activist. She served as the director of the Washington Legislative Office for the American Civil Liberties Union from 1993 to 2005.

References

  1. 1 2 Sun, Jacques Kelly, The Baltimore. "James 'Biddy' Wood". baltimoresun.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. 1 2 3 4 Fraling, Valerie (October 12, 2011). "Remembering 'Biddy' Wood".
  3. Staff, AFRO (October 8, 2011). "Journalist, Jazz Man, Biddy Wood Quietly Passes Away".
  4. Kelly, Jacques. "James 'Biddy' Wood" (obituary with photo). Baltimore, Maryland: The Baltimore Sun, October 12, 2011, p. 6 (subscription required).
  5. "Baltimore Washington 12-25-2020".
  6. Staff, AFRO (October 8, 2011). "Journalist, Jazz Man, Biddy Wood Quietly Passes Away".
  7. "Funeral program for James "Biddy" Wood, who died October 7, 2011".
  8. Staff, AFRO (October 8, 2011). "Journalist, Jazz Man, Biddy Wood Quietly Passes Away".
  9. Kelly, "James 'Biddy' Wood" (obituary with photo), The Baltimore Sun, October 12, 2011, p. 6.