Joseph Beam remembered

What I have in mind is an article on black Gay men and friendship called "Brother to Brother." I've been working on it for some time and I think I'll be able to do major work on it in the near future.

by Sidney Brinkley

One day I decided to clean out a closet stuffed with boxes that had moved with me from Washington, DC to San Francisco in 1991. They hadn't been opened in years and most were filled with what I expected, news clippings, old correspondence and assorted items once thought important, now headed for the trash. But one box contained a large manila envelope.

Inside were a dozen or so typed, yellowing pages beneath a cover letter that began: "Dear Sidney: Enclosed is the Audre Lorde interview..." The letter was dated April 16, 1984 and signed by Joseph Beam. I was stunned. I had completely forgotten asking Joe to interview Audre Lorde and here it was, in its original state, unedited and unpublished. Eventually, the circumstances surrounding the interview came back but I never could recall why I never published it. My best guess is both of us became involved in other projects. In any case, the Lorde interview was shelved and its discovery, over ten years later, brought back memories of Joe. What I will always remember about Joe Beam was his commitment to getting African American Gay men and Lesbians organizing politically.

"I'm attempting to rejuvenate the NCBG [National Coalition of Black Gays] here," he said in his letter from Philly. As a member of the board he put a lot of energy into the organization. But he was also interested in Black Gay male solidarity. "What I have in mind is an article on black Gay men and friendship called "Brother to Brother." I've been working on it for some time and I think I'll be able to do major work on it in the near future. I've been so busy with this long feature piece I've been working on for the Philadelphia Gay News about the black Gay male community in Philadelphia."

Impressed by what he saw Black Lesbians doing in publishing, Joe believed Black Gay men could, and should, do the same. He had already developed a vision of what he wanted to create and, a few months later, announced he was taking submissions for what would become "In The Life," the first Black Gay anthology. It was slow going at first. Joe had to cajole and gently badger us who had promised to send him material. "Please do try to get something to me for the anthology, which is moving slowly but surely," he wrote in January 1985. "I will be extending the manuscript deadline to April 30, 1985."

But the work finally came in and when the book was published, in 1986, it was something much more than a groundbreaking publishing event for Joe. It instilled in him a personal sense of pride and accomplishment. Excited by the reception and success of "In The Life," Joe began work on a second anthology. This one would be titled "Brother to Brother," after the piece he had started in early 1984. But Joe would not live to see completion of that book. He died of AIDS related causes on December 27, 1988. Three days before what would have been his 34th birthday. Brother to Brother was published in 1991, completed by poet Essex Hemphill with the support of Joe's mother, Mrs. Dorothy Beam.