Delilah L. Beasley, a crusading journalist and California historian

by Herb Boyd

Delilah Beasley was only recently brought to our attention and given her remarkable career as a crusading journalist and historian she warrants more than a passing nod. She was born Delilah Leontium Beasley on September 9, 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the oldest of five children to Daniel Beasley, an engineer, and Margaret Harris, a homemaker.

Her parents died when she was teenager and Beasley supported herself as a masseuse. She began writing for Harry Smith’s Cleveland Gazette in 1883. She first covered church and civil affairs and later published her first column in the Sunday Cincinnati Enquirer. Much of her journalistic learning came from Daniel Rudd, who published the American Catholic Tribune. Beasley was 39 when she moved to Oakland, California. In 1915, she began writing for the Oakland Sunshine.

Four years later, she published her first book chronicling a number of Black American firsts in California, entitled “The Negro Trail-Blazers of California” (1919). The book included a miscellany of African American history in the state, replete with diary entries, memorabilia, poetry, photographs, newspaper items, and interviews with Black pioneers of the 19th century.

She delved into the lives of the early Black miners. The state’s history of mining, she concluded, would be incomplete without the tales and adventures of Black miners, most notably Moses Rodgers, a mining expert adept in the complexity of metallurgy. Of particular note was the importance she gave to Black women, such as pioneering Los Angeles landowner Biddy Mason, in her journalism and books.

By 1925, she had established herself as a regular columnist for the Oakland Tribune. She never married and devoted much of her time to civic organizations when she wasn’t busy covering various activities in the community and elsewhere. She was a member of the Alameda League of Women Voters, the League of Nations Association of the California Federated Women’s Clubs, and NAACP, among several other formations.

In 1929, she was actively involved in defending the rights of immigrants and providing them with a voice in public affairs via her columns. Her commitment to multicultural affairs was widely heralded, particularly after her promotion of the International House at UC Berkeley. She was highlighted in an article that stated, “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.”

Beasley’s weekly column gave prominent coverage to Black Americans and their various community activities and endeavors. In 1932, she organized the donation of a painting by a Black artist to the Oakland Museum, a work of art by Eugene Burk, entitled “The Slave Mother.” And she wrote emphasizing that the painting be part of the museum’s permanent collection. Beasley was also instrumental in urging the elected officials to do more on behalf of their Black constituents. She was largely responsible for a state assemblyman to introduce an anti-slavery bill that was unanimously passed by the state legislature.

She died on August 18, 1934, at Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro, California. The cause of death, according to one report, was heart disease with hypertension. She was buried at Saint Mary Cemetery in Oakland. A monument to her memory was erected twenty years after her death with a simple epitaph: “Author and columnist, a native of Ohio and for 25 years a resident of Oakland.”

Veteran and student journalists are honored with the Hall of Fame & Scholarship Award of the Cincinnati chapter of the NABJ with the “Delilah Leontium Beasley Scholar” awards.