Herb Boyd | |
---|---|
![]() Boyd speaking at the National Writers Union (NWU – UAW Local 1981) 30th anniversary celebration in NYC | |
Born | Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. | November 1, 1938
Alma mater | Wayne 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 is a former teacher of black studies at the City College of New York and the College of New Rochelle. [2]
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]