Joseph Beam audio and moving image collection

1987- circa 1991

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Joseph Fairchild Beam (December 30, 1954 - December 27, 1988) was a gay rights activist, writer, and poet. Beam received a BA from Franklin College in 1976. In the early 1980s, he began working at Giovanni's Room, an independent gay and lesbian bookstore in Philadelphia. His writings appeared in numerous gay and literary publications including The Advocate, The Body Politic, Gay Community News, New York Native, Painted Bride Quarterly, Philadelphia Gay News, and Windy City Times. In 1984, the Lesbian and Gay Press Association awarded Beam a certificate for outstanding achievement by a minority journalist. In 1985, he became a consultant to the Gay and Lesbian Task Force of the American Friends Service Committee, a Religious Society of Friends (Quaker)-founded organization working for peace and social justice in the US and around the world. That same year, Beam joined the executive committee of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, and became the editor of its journal, Black/Out. He was also awarded the Philadelphia Gay News Lambda Literary Award for outstanding achievement in 1985.

Beam was the editor of In the Life (1986), the first anthology of poetry and prose by Black gay men. For this work, he received a citation from the Rhode Island State House in 1987, and a commendation from the City of Philadelphia. Beam began a second anthology, "Brother to Brother," named after an earlier short story of his, but died of an AIDS-related illness in 1988, before it was completed. Poet and activist Essex Hemphill, a friend of Beam, worked together with Beam's mother Dorothy to complete the collection, which was published as Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men in 1991.