Singer, songwriter, playwright, poet and civil rights activist Oscar Brown, Jr.
was born in Chicago, Illinois on October 10, 1926. Before his recording career
began, he worked for the radio program Negro Newsfront in Chicago and was
acknowledged as the world’s first African American newscaster. He then went into
real estate, public relations, politics and the U.S. Army. Leaving the army in
1956, he worked as a copywriter before becoming a radio DJ. In his spare time,
he began writing songs based on his experiences with racism. His stint as a DJ
didn’t last long and Oscar Brown, J...