John Beecher (poet) facts for kids

John Beecher (January 22, 1904 – May 11, 1980) was an activist poet, writer, and journalist. He wrote a lot about the Southern United States during the Great Depression (a time when many people were poor) and the American Civil Rights Movement (when people fought for equal rights).

Beecher was very involved in movements that supported workers and civil rights. During the McCarthy era, a time when people were worried about loyalty to the country, Beecher lost his teaching job. This happened because he refused to sign a special loyalty paper for the state. Years later, in 1977, he got his job back after a court decided that the loyalty paper was not allowed.

Some of Beecher's well-known books include Report to the Stockholders, To Live and Die in Dixie, and In Egypt Land.

Early Life and Education

John Henry Newman Beecher was born in New York City on January 22, 1904. His parents were Leonard and Isabel Beecher. He came from a famous family in New England that included writers and people who worked to end slavery, like Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin.

His father worked as a boss in the steel industry. In 1907, his family moved to Birmingham, Alabama. John Beecher spent the rest of his childhood in the American South.

Beecher's family hoped he would become a business leader like his father. After finishing high school at age fourteen, Beecher started working in steel mills. He saw how workers were treated unfairly there. This made him want to help improve things for workers. He also started writing strong poems about unfairness, which he became known for.

He briefly attended the Virginia Military Institute but left because he didn't like how new students were treated. Beecher went to several colleges and earned his first degree from the University of Alabama in 1924. In 1925, he was badly hurt while working on a construction project near Birmingham.

Writing and Activism

Beecher earned a master's degree in English from the University of Wisconsin in 1929. He also taught at an experimental college there. Later, he studied sociology at the University of North Carolina. He helped with a book called Southern Regions of the United States.

In 1933, he published Report to the Stockholders. This was a long poem about how mill workers were treated unfairly. From 1934 to 1941, he worked for government programs like the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. These programs were part of the New Deal and helped people during the Great Depression. He managed camps for farmers who had lost their homes, both white and black.

In 1935, he wrote an article about a union in Notasulga, Alabama that included both white and black workers. He wrote about his frustrations with government programs in two poetry books: Here I Stand (1940) and And I Will Be Heard (1941).

World War II and Beyond

During World War II, Beecher joined the military. He served as an officer on a ship called the SS Booker T. Washington. This ship had a crew made up of people from different races. He wrote a book about his experiences called All Brave Sailors.

After the war, he was asked to write a history book about politicians and the farmer-labor movement in Minnesota from the 1930s. This book was finally published in 1980 and was called Tomorrow is a Day.

Facing Challenges

In 1948, Beecher started teaching at San Francisco State College. But in 1950, he refused to sign a loyalty oath required by a law called the Levering Act. Because of this, he was fired from his teaching job. He was also "blacklisted," meaning he wasn't allowed to teach anywhere else. He wrote about this experience in an essay called "California: There She Goes."

During the 1950s, Beecher worked as a rancher and a printer. He printed his own poems at his Morning Star Press. He also taught at Arizona State University for a short time in the late 1950s.

Return to Teaching and Journalism

In the 1960s, Beecher mainly worked as a journalist. He wrote about social injustice, which means unfairness in society. He also continued to teach, and his poems became popular again. He wrote for magazines and newspapers like The Nation, Ramparts, and New York Times.

In 1968, a recording of him reading his poems was released. A reviewer from The New York Times said that Beecher's poems were about specific problems, like unfairness to Black people and workers. In 1970, the famous interviewer Studs Terkel included Beecher in his book Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression.

In 1967, the California Supreme Court decided that the Levering Act, which required the loyalty oath, was against the law. In 1977, Beecher's firing from his teaching job was officially canceled, and he was given his job back.

Beecher taught full-time at San Francisco State until August 1979. He taught many subjects, including Sociology, Writing, Humanities, and American Literature.

Personal Life and Legacy

John Beecher was married several times. He had four children with his first wife, Virginia St. Clair Donovan. He also had a son named Tom with another wife. He married his fourth wife, Barbara, in 1955.

John Beecher passed away on May 11, 1980. He was buried in San Jose, California.

Writings

Poetry

• Here I Stand, Twice A Year Press, 1940
• And I Will Be Heard: Two Talks to the American People, Twice A Year Press, 1941
• Land of the Free, Morning Star Press, 1956
• In Egypt Land, Rampart Press, 1960
• Phantom City, Rampart Press, 1961
• Report to the Stockholders & Other Poems, Rampart Press, 1962
• Undesirables, Goosetree Press, 1964
• To Live & Die in Dixie & Other Poems, Monthly Review Press, 1966
• Hear the Wind Blow: Poems of Protest & Prophecy, International Publishers, 1968
• Collected Poems, 1924-1974, MacMillan, 1974
• One More River to Cross: Selected Poems, foreword by Studs Terkel, edited by Steven Ford Brown, NewSouth Books, 2003

Nonfiction

• All Brave Sailors: The Story of the S.S. Booker T. Washington, L.B. Fischer, 1945
• Tomorrow is a Day: A Story of the People in Politics, Vanguard Press, 1980
• Like it Be's in Leesville; Deep in the Heart of Texas, Workers Press, 1980