Delilah L. Beasley
Encyclopedia
Delilah Leontium Beasley (September 9, 1871 - August 18, 1934), was an American
historian
, and newspaper
columnist
for the Oakland Tribune
, Oakland, California
, USA. Beasley becomes the first African American
woman to be published regularly in a major metropolitan newspaper.
As a writer
, Beasley has the distinction of being the first person to have presented written proof of the existence of California black pioneers, in her writings, Slavery in California (1918) and her classic, The Negro Trail-Blazers of California (1919), a pioneering work in the field of California black history. Her journalists career spanned over fifty years, including detailing the racial problems in California
and the heroic achievements by blacks to overcome them, during the late 19th century and early 20th century.
, the oldest of five children in the family of Daniel Beasley, an engineer, and Margaret Harris, a homemaker. After her parents' death while she was still a teenager, Beasley had to find a full time job to support herself, she pursued a career as a trained masseuse. She began her newspaper career in 1883 writing for a black newspaper the Cleveland Gazette, founded by Harry C. Smith. She wrote briefly about church and social activities. Three years later, she published her first column in the Sunday Cincinnati, Ohio
, Enquirer under the headline "Mosaics". Beasley studied journalism under Dan Rudd, a well-known newspaper publisher of the Colored Catholic Tribune in Cincinnati.
In 1910, at age 39, Beasley moved to Oakland, California
, attending lectures and researching at University of California, Berkeley
and writing essays for presentations at local churches. In 1910 the African American population in Oakland was 3,055. The small black population supported a flowering of indigenous institutions and community formation in the 10s and 20s. Among these institutions were various black-owned small businesses, churches, and private social-welfare organizations. In addition, several black newspapers were published in Oakland, including the Oakland Sunshine, which began publication in 1902, publisher William Prince, and the Western Outlook, established in 1894, publishers J. S. Francis and J. L. Derrick. In 1915, she wrote for a black audience in the Oakland Sunshine.
"firsts", and notable achievements in early California
in her book The Negro Trail-Blazers of California (1919). A compilation of records from the California Archives in the Bancroft Library
at the University of California, Berkeley
, searching newspapers from 1848 to the 1890s, all the black newspapers from the first in 1855 through 1919. Beasley Trail-Blazers book included diaries, biographical sketches, poetry commemorating black sacrifices, photographs, old papers, conversations of old pioneers, a comprehensive history of early legislation and court cases. Beasley's informative compilation of records is full of success stories. It gives many hundreds of names of blacks in California from the pioneer period to the late 19th century.
Beasley writes about the black gold miners of the late 1840s:
Beasley spent nine years writing her book, the book is important to historians of California and the West, and of African American western history. She knew many people who had been in California from the beginning of statehood and before. So much of what we know of California black pioneers grows out of her book. One of her possible heroes in the book was Lt. Col. Allen Allensworth
, in 1908 founder of an all African American town in Allensworth, California
, now a state park, Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park
. Beasley wrote, "The late Colonel Allensworth was born a slave, and yet there are few, if any, who have made more out of life and done more for their fellow man".
Delilah Beasley placed women prominently in her book. Over the next four decades, no other major works followed Beasley's volume. One might expect a plethora of articles and books concerning various aspects of black women's history during and immediately following the civil rights movements of the 1910s. Yet western black women received little attention.
In 1929, Beasley also used her professional skills and prominence in international groups to rebut white fears about the consequences of creating an International House at the University of California, Berkeley
. Many Berkeley
landlords protested the construction of the House, fearing an influx of foreigners. International House at UC Berkeley is a multi-cultural residence and program center serving students, the local community and alumni worldwide. Its mission is to foster intercultural respect, understanding, lifelong friendships and leadership skills for the promotion of a more tolerant and peaceful world. The university wrote: "More than 800 people gathered in Berkeley
to protest racial integration in the proposed International House. At that meeting, Delilah Beasley, a black reporter for the Oakland Tribune, passionately defended the concept to a disgruntled and stunned audience. And it was Beasley who stood up to the protests of property owners who feared that I-House would cause Berkeley
to be overrun with Blacks and Asians". Notable I-House alumni and residents are, Delbert E. Wong
, Jerry Brown
, Oona King
, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
, Rose Bird
, F. Drew Gaffney
, Eric E. Schmidt
, and Sadako Ogata
.
The weekly column she wrote for the newspaper, Activities Among Negroes, enhanced her standing in the community because of her ability to generate favorable publicity for black political struggles. Recognition of her ability to influence the white community strengthened her status within both white and black communities. She confronted misconceptions and contradictions as a newspaper journalist, and campaign against the use in the press of explicitly derogatory words when writing about African Americans. In 1932, Beasley organized the donation of a painting by a Black artist to the Oakland Museum. Due to her efforts as president of the “Far Western Inter-Racial Committee,” a painting by Eugene Burk, titled "The Slave Mother" was unveiled and presented to gallery director William Clapp, with Beasley expressing hope that "the presentation of this picture to the permanent collection of the Oakland Municipal Art may be the means of opening many doors to young aspiring Negroes, not only of Oakland but of the United States." Clapp responded,
In 1933, it was at Beasley urging that California State Assemblyman William F. Knowland
, then assistant publisher of the Oakland Tribune, and Assemblyman Frederick M. Roberts of Los Angeles County, introduced an anti-lynching bill, that passed unanimously in both branches of the California Legislature. It was the state's first mob violence law. The majority of lynching in California between 1850 and 1935 were perpetrated against Latinos, Native Americans
, and Asian Americans.
. According to her death certificate, the cause of death was arterio-sclerotic heart disease with hypertension. Her home at that time was listed as being in Oakland, California
. She was laid to rest at Saint Mary Cemetery
in Oakland. Twenty years later, a monument was erected, and a perpetual care endowed. Carved on the old tombstone is a simple epitaph: "Author and columnist, a native of Ohio and for 25 years a resident of Oakland."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, and newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
for the Oakland Tribune
The Oakland Tribune
The Oakland Tribune is a daily newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group , a subsidiary of MediaNews Group...
, Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, USA. Beasley becomes the first African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
woman to be published regularly in a major metropolitan newspaper.
As a writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, Beasley has the distinction of being the first person to have presented written proof of the existence of California black pioneers, in her writings, Slavery in California (1918) and her classic, The Negro Trail-Blazers of California (1919), a pioneering work in the field of California black history. Her journalists career spanned over fifty years, including detailing the racial problems in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and the heroic achievements by blacks to overcome them, during the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Biography
Beasley was born in Cincinnati, OhioCincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, the oldest of five children in the family of Daniel Beasley, an engineer, and Margaret Harris, a homemaker. After her parents' death while she was still a teenager, Beasley had to find a full time job to support herself, she pursued a career as a trained masseuse. She began her newspaper career in 1883 writing for a black newspaper the Cleveland Gazette, founded by Harry C. Smith. She wrote briefly about church and social activities. Three years later, she published her first column in the Sunday Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, Enquirer under the headline "Mosaics". Beasley studied journalism under Dan Rudd, a well-known newspaper publisher of the Colored Catholic Tribune in Cincinnati.
In 1910, at age 39, Beasley moved to Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, attending lectures and researching at University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
and writing essays for presentations at local churches. In 1910 the African American population in Oakland was 3,055. The small black population supported a flowering of indigenous institutions and community formation in the 10s and 20s. Among these institutions were various black-owned small businesses, churches, and private social-welfare organizations. In addition, several black newspapers were published in Oakland, including the Oakland Sunshine, which began publication in 1902, publisher William Prince, and the Western Outlook, established in 1894, publishers J. S. Francis and J. L. Derrick. In 1915, she wrote for a black audience in the Oakland Sunshine.
Trail-Blazers book
Delilah Beasley chronicled African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
"firsts", and notable achievements in early California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in her book The Negro Trail-Blazers of California (1919). A compilation of records from the California Archives in the Bancroft Library
Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library is the primary special collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired as a gift/purchase from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity...
at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, searching newspapers from 1848 to the 1890s, all the black newspapers from the first in 1855 through 1919. Beasley Trail-Blazers book included diaries, biographical sketches, poetry commemorating black sacrifices, photographs, old papers, conversations of old pioneers, a comprehensive history of early legislation and court cases. Beasley's informative compilation of records is full of success stories. It gives many hundreds of names of blacks in California from the pioneer period to the late 19th century.
Beasley writes about the black gold miners of the late 1840s:
- "A history of the Negro people of California would be incomplete without mention of the mining men who came in 1849. There were at one time several hundred Negro miners working claims on Mormon and Mokelumn Hill, at Placerville, Grass Valley and elsewhere in California mountains. One such man was Moses RodgersMoses RodgersMoses Logan Rodgers African American pioneer of California, arriving in 1849--the beginning of the California Gold Rush. California was annexed by the United States and was admitted to the Union as the thirty-first state on September 9, 1850.-Biography:Moses Rodgers, who was born into slavery in...
a mining expert and was considered one of the best mining engineers in the state. He was also a metallurgist and owned a group of mines at Hornitus. The colored miners rarely took a chance in buying mining stock. He had more sacred duties to perform with his money. He either used it to pay for the freedom or liberty of himself, his family or other loved ones in faraway "Dixie-LandSouthern United StatesThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
". If not that, then he contributed largely from his diggings to assisting the "Executive Committee of the Colored Convention" in their struggles to secure legislative enactments in the interest of the Negro race in California".
Beasley spent nine years writing her book, the book is important to historians of California and the West, and of African American western history. She knew many people who had been in California from the beginning of statehood and before. So much of what we know of California black pioneers grows out of her book. One of her possible heroes in the book was Lt. Col. Allen Allensworth
Allen Allensworth
Allen Allensworth was an American soldier and chaplain in the United States Army, a Baptist minister and educator, who had been born into slavery. He escaped by joining the 44th Illinois Volunteers during the American Civil War, and later served two years in the Navy...
, in 1908 founder of an all African American town in Allensworth, California
Allensworth, California
Allensworth is a census-designated place in Tulare County, California. Allensworth sits at an elevation of . The 2010 United States census reported Allensworth's population was 471....
, now a state park, Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park
Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park
Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park is a state park unit of California, USA, preserving Allensworth, the only California town to be founded, financed and governed by African Americans. The small farming community was founded in 1908 by Lt. Colonel Allen Allensworth, Professor William Payne,...
. Beasley wrote, "The late Colonel Allensworth was born a slave, and yet there are few, if any, who have made more out of life and done more for their fellow man".
Delilah Beasley placed women prominently in her book. Over the next four decades, no other major works followed Beasley's volume. One might expect a plethora of articles and books concerning various aspects of black women's history during and immediately following the civil rights movements of the 1910s. Yet western black women received little attention.
Newspaper columnist
Her work on the book The Negro Trail-Blazers paved the way for Beasley to become the first Black woman in California to write regularly for a major metropolitan newspaper. By 1925 Delilah was writing regularly for the Oakland Tribune. Her Sunday Tribune column was Activities Among Negroes and her name was also published with the articles. She often spent far over forty hours a week collecting material for her column. She wrote about churches, social events, women’s clubs, literary societies, and local as well as national politics. Beasley's motivation was to give the white readers of the Oakland Tribune a positive picture of the black community. She documented the achievements of successful black men and women, in Oakland and elsewhere. By highlighting such items, she served her larger goal of demonstrating the capabilities of African-Americans while building a strong constituency for her column and a network of sources from whom she could count on receiving information. There is no doubt that in performing this service she laid an important part of the groundwork for the expanded inter-racial cooperation that developed during the Depression era of the 1930s. Richard Dillon, whose book on California Pioneers who had special qualities of their unusual and stimulating lives, wrote that Beasley was "born 50 years before her time". Beasley wrote for the Oakland Tribune from 1925-1934.Community service and social activist
Beasley, who never married, belonged to many civic organizations, including The Delilah L. Beasley Literary and Improvement Club, National Association of Colored People (NAACP), northern California branch founded in 1915, headquarters in Oakland. She was a member of the Alameda County League of Women Voters, the Public Welfare League of Alameda County, and the League of Nations Association of the California Federated Women's Club, which hosted the biennial convention in the Oakland Auditorium, attracting delegates from across the country. In 1920, Oakland's black club women, including Delilah Beasley and others, organized the Linden Center Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) to combat the cold reception extended to them by the all-white branches in the city. The Linden Center YWCA provided an array of services, including "religious and vocational training, adult education, counseling services, and a full calendar of recreational and cultural programs". In the mid-1920s, Beasley was a national historian of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), and the Alameda County League of Colored Women Voters, devoted press coverage to both in her column, Activities Among Negroes, which ran in the white daily, the Oakland Tribune.University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. Many Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
landlords protested the construction of the House, fearing an influx of foreigners. International House at UC Berkeley is a multi-cultural residence and program center serving students, the local community and alumni worldwide. Its mission is to foster intercultural respect, understanding, lifelong friendships and leadership skills for the promotion of a more tolerant and peaceful world. The university wrote: "More than 800 people gathered in Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
to protest racial integration in the proposed International House. At that meeting, Delilah Beasley, a black reporter for the Oakland Tribune, passionately defended the concept to a disgruntled and stunned audience. And it was Beasley who stood up to the protests of property owners who feared that I-House would cause Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
to be overrun with Blacks and Asians". Notable I-House alumni and residents are, Delbert E. Wong
Delbert E. Wong
Delbert Wong was the first Chinese American judge in the continental United States.-Early life:Delbert Wong was born in Hanford, California on May 17, 1920, and raised a short distance away in Bakersfield. After obtaining an Associate of Arts degree from Bakersfield College, he transferred to the...
, Jerry Brown
Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...
, Oona King
Oona King
Oona Tamsyn King, Baroness King of Bow is a Baroness and Member of the House of Lords, and former Chief Diversity Officer of Channel 4. She previously had served as a Labour Party Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow from 1997 until 2005, when she was defeated by Respect candidate George...
, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an Indian-American author, poet, and the Betty and Gene McDavid Professor of Writing at the University of Houston Creative Writing Program....
, Rose Bird
Rose Bird
Rose Elizabeth Bird served for 10 years as the 25th Chief Justice of California. She was the first female Justice, and first female Chief Justice, on that court, appointed by then Governor Jerry Brown...
, F. Drew Gaffney
F. Drew Gaffney
Francis Andrew "Drew" Gaffney, M.D. is an American doctor who flew aboard a NASA Space Shuttle mission as a Payload Specialist.-Biography:Gaffney was born June 9, 1946, in Carlsbad, New Mexico. He is married to Elizabeth Burgo Sims of Berkeley, California...
, Eric E. Schmidt
Eric E. Schmidt
Eric Emerson Schmidt is an American software engineer and the current executive chairman of Google. From 2001 to 2011, he served as the chief executive officer of Google....
, and Sadako Ogata
Sadako Ogata
, is a Japanese academic, diplomat, author, administrator and professor emeritus at Sophia University.-Early life:Sadako Nakamura was born in 1927...
.
The weekly column she wrote for the newspaper, Activities Among Negroes, enhanced her standing in the community because of her ability to generate favorable publicity for black political struggles. Recognition of her ability to influence the white community strengthened her status within both white and black communities. She confronted misconceptions and contradictions as a newspaper journalist, and campaign against the use in the press of explicitly derogatory words when writing about African Americans. In 1932, Beasley organized the donation of a painting by a Black artist to the Oakland Museum. Due to her efforts as president of the “Far Western Inter-Racial Committee,” a painting by Eugene Burk, titled "The Slave Mother" was unveiled and presented to gallery director William Clapp, with Beasley expressing hope that "the presentation of this picture to the permanent collection of the Oakland Municipal Art may be the means of opening many doors to young aspiring Negroes, not only of Oakland but of the United States." Clapp responded,
- "We feel a very great appreciation of the thought and effort. Even under normal conditions the gift would be remarkable, since it is the first presented in this gallery as a formal expression of racial culture. It is also noteworthy because it is the first work of art that has been presented to the gallery by an organized group of citizens".
In 1933, it was at Beasley urging that California State Assemblyman William F. Knowland
William F. Knowland
William Fife Knowland was a United States politician, newspaperman, and Republican Party leader. He was a U.S. Senator representing California from 1945 to 1959. He served as Senate Majority Leader from 1953-1955, and as Minority Leader from 1955-1959. He was defeated in his 1958 run for...
, then assistant publisher of the Oakland Tribune, and Assemblyman Frederick M. Roberts of Los Angeles County, introduced an anti-lynching bill, that passed unanimously in both branches of the California Legislature. It was the state's first mob violence law. The majority of lynching in California between 1850 and 1935 were perpetrated against Latinos, Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, and Asian Americans.
Death
Delilah Leontium Beasley died on August 18, 1934 at Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro, CaliforniaSan Leandro, California
San Leandro is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is considered a suburb of Oakland and San Francisco. The population was 84,950 as of 2010 census. The climate of the city is mild throughout the year.-Geography and water resources:...
. According to her death certificate, the cause of death was arterio-sclerotic heart disease with hypertension. Her home at that time was listed as being in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
. She was laid to rest at Saint Mary Cemetery
Saint Mary Cemetery (Oakland, California)
Saint Mary Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery in Oakland, California, adjacent to Mountain View Cemetery.-People interred:*Juan Bautista Alvarado Mexican governor of California...
in Oakland. Twenty years later, a monument was erected, and a perpetual care endowed. Carved on the old tombstone is a simple epitaph: "Author and columnist, a native of Ohio and for 25 years a resident of Oakland."
Legacy
Veteran and student journalists are honored with the Hall of Fame & Scholarship Awards of the Cincinnati chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, with the "Delilah Leontium Beasley Scholar" awards.Works by Beasley
- Beasley, Delilah L. Slavery in California, Journal of Negro History, vol. 3, (January 1919), (includes California Freedom Papers (1851–1856)
- ___________. The Negro Trail-Blazers of California, (1919), reprinted 1969, 1997 & 2004 - ISBN 9781885852403
- ___________. Proceedings of the Fifteenth Biennial Convention, National Association of Colored Women: Held in Municipal Auditorium, Oakland, California, July 29 to August 6, 1926
FootnotesResources
- Brown, Hallie Q. Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction, (1925), Oxford University Press, reprinted (1988) Oxford University of oaklend California ress. - ISBN 0195052374
- Crouchett, Lorraine Jacobs. Delilah Leontium Beasley: Oakland's Crusading Journalist, El Cerrito, California, Downey Place Publishing House, (1990) - ISBN 0910823030
- Hine, Darlene, et al. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, Carlson Publishing Inc., (1994) - ISBN 0926019619
- Roses, Lorraine E. Harlem's Glory: Black Women Writing, 1900–1950, Harvard University Press (1997) - ISBN 0674372700
- Streitmatter, Roger. Delilah, Beasley: A Black Woman Journalist Who Lifted As She Climbed, American Journalism Historians Association, October 1991, Philadelphia
- Wheeler, B. Gordon. Black California: The History of African-Americans in the Golden State, Hippocrene Books, New York, (1993) - ISBN 0781800749