Boyd was born in
Birmingham, Alabama, and grew up in
Detroit, Michigan.[1][3] He met
Malcolm X in 1958 and credits him as an inspiration: "[Malcolm] set me on the path to become the writer-activist I am, to try to live up to the very ennobling things that he represented."[4]
Boyd attended
Wayne State University, graduating with a
BA degree in philosophy.[5] During the late 1960s, he helped establish the first
black studies classes there and went on to teach at the university for 12 years.[6] He also co-developed and instructed the initial curriculum in jazz studies at the
Oberlin Conservatory.[7]
In 2018, Boyd was honored with the Outstanding Career Achievement Award at the James Aronson Social Justice Journalism Awards at
Hunter College. Boyd credited his wife, writer and professor Elza Dinwiddie-Boyd, for editing his published books.[12]
We Shall Overcome: The History of the Civil Rights Movement as It Happened, Sourcebooks, 2004.
ISBN978-1-4022-0213-1
References
^
abcd"Herb Boyd". Contemporary Authors. January 1, 2005. Archived from
the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved May 31, 2012. (subscription required)
^"Recollecting and Defending the Legacy of Malcolm X Today". New York Amsterdam News. May 26, 2011.
ProQuest873587980.. Also at
New York Amsterdam News, December 13, 2012.
^"Herb Boyd". The History Makers. December 2013. Retrieved February 24, 2022.