(January 22, 1904-May 11, 1980) Born John Henry Newman Beecher in New York City; family moved to Birmingham, Alabama, when he was three years old. Expelled from Virginia Military Institute for refusing to testify in hazing case. Attended Cornell (1921-23), University of Alabama (B.A., 1926), Harvard (1926-27), the Sorbonne (1928), University of Wisconsin (M.A., 1930), and University of North Carolina (1933-34). Worked intermittently as steelworker and metallurgist, and as an English instructor; from 1934 to 1939 served in New Deal agencies including the Emergency Relief Administration and the Farm Security Administration. Took first job in journalism in 1940, working as associate editor of Birmingham Age-Herald and News. Beginning in late 1941 was senior field representative for President's Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC), responsible for Southern states; organized 1942 public hearings in Birmingham. Resigned in 1943; wrote New York Post and New Republic articles criticizing FEPC. From 1943 to 1945 served on the Booker T. Washington, first integrated ship in the U.S. Merchant Marine; published All Brave Soldiers (1945) about experience. Directed camps for displaced persons in Germany for United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration; wrote popular history of Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party, Tomorrow Is a Day (first published 1979). Was assistant professor of sociology at San Francisco State College beginning in 1948; fired for refusal to sign loyalty oath. Received Ford Foundation grant to study California small farmers (1951-52); purchased ranch in Sonoma County, California. Founded Morning Star Press in 1956; taught English at Arizona State (1959-61). Reported on civil rights movement for San Francisco Chronicle and Ramparts. Taught literature and served as poet-in-residence at a number of colleges, including St. John's University (1970), Duke (1973-75), and San Francisco State (1977-80). Died in San Francisco. Author of And I Will Be Heard: Two Talks to the American People (1940), Here I Stand (1941), Report to the Stockholders & Other Poems, 1932-62 (1962), To Live and Die in Dixie and Other Poems (1966), and Collected Poems 1924-1974 (1974).