On this day in Alabama history: John Beecher was born in New York
Alabama-born poet, journalist, and social activist John Beecher became a powerful voice for the poor and disenfranchised, especially mill workers, during his life. Fired and blacklisted from his teaching position at San Francisco State University in the 1950s for refusing to sign a loyalty oath, Beecher reported on the civil rights movement in Birmingham for the San Francisco Chronicle and later returned to Birmingham to teach at Miles College. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Historical Collections and Labor Archives, Special Collections Library, The Pennsylvania State University)
January 22, 1904
Poet, journalist and social activist John Beecher was born in New York. A descendent of abolitionists Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Beecher spent his youth in Birmingham and, at the age of 14, worked in the steel mills of the Tennessee, Iron and Railroad Co. After witnessing the harsh conditions of factory and mills and the mistreatment of workers first hand, Beecher later dedicated his career to the American labor and civil rights movements. He published several books and collections of poetry throughout his career, including “To Live & Die in Dixie & Other Poems” and “Hear the Wind Blow: Poems of Protest & Prophecy.”
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
