There was something about my subject, W.D. Foster Graham, that intrigued me. His book reviews were poignant, and always made me want to read what he had read and written, too! There just wasn’t enough time when I was writing 24-7 and loving it. While I write this article on December 13th, President Joe Biden was signing the Respect for Marriage act into law. In a phone interview, Foster Graham, the book review editor for Insight News, and so much more, gave me this beautiful story I could pen about a crusade, persistence, and true love while holding fast to a confident coolness, a gentle kindness, and so much gratitude for simply being alive.
As an Air Force veteran then stationed at the Minnesota Air National Guard base in the late 60s and 70s, Foster-Graham’s father was a self-taught computer technician in technology’s early beginnings. He was also a voracious reader that not only inspired his son to follow suit, but to begin to write, as I did, when barely able to hold a pencil and a Big Chief tablet. In junior high school, Foster-Graham, a budding author, created a fictional character named Snip, the Bookworm.
I loved the concept for the book and suggested that he re-visit and edit the manuscript and get Snip in print.
When he was 18, Foster-Graham recognized there were traits wrapped around his emotions, mindsets, and different ways of looking at the world which shaped who he was as a Black male. These mannerisms were not the same for his siblings and most of his classmates at Luther College, a private Lutheran liberal arts college located in Decorah, Iowa. It was just who he was.
“It was a Black English professor/poet, Sandra Govan, who encouraged me to write the stories relevant to my unique voice during my college years. She also furthered my knowledge of Black authors, playwrights, and poets, something that hadn’t taken place in elementary or secondary school. It was icing on the cake when she invited poet Gwendolyn Brooks, 1950 Pulitzer Prize winner and 1985-86 U.S. Poet Laureate, to campus to speak to us,” he said.
He was also inspired by the late E. Lynn Harris and the phenomenal Toni Morrison who wrote, “if there’s a story you wish to read and it hasn’t been written yet, then you must be the one to write it” which is what I have embarked upon doing, even as a ‘baby boomer-seasoned warrior’!
In 2003, (name please) the author/poet was recognized by the International Society of Poets as one of its Best New Poets. What gifts both Brooks and Foster-Graham have offered to all those who choose to soak in just a little bit of the knowledge and power of great literary works on both fronts.(of knowledge and power?)
And then there has been the passion for music too! (Say his name. Avoid confusion. Plain and simple is best.)Foster-Graham was an original member of the multi-Grammy award winning ‘Sounds of Blackness’ over 50 years ago.
For the man who seems to always have a gift for words, phrases, and complete sentences describing the works of others and creating his own characters who are compelled to navigate the complexity of their world versus. the real world, he had given me a story I never expected and a perspective of the LBGT community I never knew.
I now so appreciate the truths he so proudly laid out for me as a columnist to put into words and to share with others. Foster-Graham has been married to his husband for 12 years. Their now 22-year-old son, named for his grandfather, had no problem saying “ ‘yes, I have two dads!’ There were never in-depth discussions about our modern family. We simply answered questions as he asked,” Foster-Graham said.
Foster-Graham’s response was a wonderful example of that genuine love for family and life itself, a gentle spirit and confidence that has defined his being in societal times that weren’t as accepting. What ‘pride’ the couple both felt when their son video recorded their wedding in 2010.
In 1970, the first Pride marches took place during that summer commemorating the Stonewall riots that protested the New York City police raid on Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, which had happened a year before. The protests created a watershed period that brought the Pride movement to this time of reckoning and a Presidential signature.
“The idea of getting married and raising children was a dream, an impossible one at that,” Foster-Graham said. “Now I am a husband and a father. I claim the Respect for Marriage Act, and the protections it provides, as a victory on the road to full equality for my brother who is in an interracial marriage, and for me, in a same sex marriage. On the day of the signing, I thought about the road it took to get to this point, just as I have as a Black person. That being said, I continue to stay positive, for I have much to be grateful for.”
Insight News editor Al McFarlane was applauded Foster-Graham’s persistence in introducing Black books to literary markets and in bringing his research statistics on these markets to the attention of the Minnesota Library Association. At the time, an average of 3% of collections at the public library systems included books by Black authors, while Minneapolis’ Black population was higher than 18%. Today, on the Minnesota Library Association’s website, the list Foster-Graham comprised of Black author resources is included in their Anti-Racism resource section.
Marketing for his own books has taken place through his website, www.wfostergraham@wfostergrahamauthor.com, social media platforms, networking with other authors, and interviews with entrepreneurs who stand at the intersectionality of Black and LGBT. “In addition to my column for ‘Insight News’, I also write a guest column for author/radio personality/entrepreneur Wyatt O’Brian Evans out of D.C. The column is entitled ‘Old School, New Kid’, giving my voice and views as a Black LGBT brotha of a certain age. He often publishes in The Washington Post, the Huffington Post, and the Advocate.” Who does this He refer to?
I am reminded of a spiritual my beloved mother tried to sing. ‘Have ya’ got good religion? Certainly, certainly, certainly, Lord!’ Foster-Graham’s spiritual roots began during childhood at St. Peter’s AME Church in South Minneapolis. Today, he is a trustee to his church and living his truth as an openly gay man. In recent years, St. Peter’s has taken steps in becoming inclusive of all those who honor our Creator.
Books by W.D. Foster-Graham available on website and Amazon.
- Ø The Right to Bel
- Ø Mark My Words: Books 1,2, and 3
- Ø Never Give Up
- Ø You Never Know
All of the above novels center around the Christopher family sagas and M/M romance.
