Joseph Beam

Joseph Fairchild Beam (December 30, 1954 – December 27, 1988) was an African-American gay rights activist, writer and poet. He was the editor of ''In the Life: a Black Gay Anthology'', the first compendia of black gay writing. He was a board member of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays and the founding editor of ''Black/Out'' magazine.

A second anthology, ''Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men'', was completed by Essex Hemphill and Beam's mother after Joseph's death in 1988 and published in 1991. Provided by Wikipedia