Nathan C. Heard
Nathan C. Heard was an American author, educator, and cultural figure, born on November 7, 1936, in Newark, New Jersey. He grew up in a challenging environment, raised by his mother and grandmother, and faced early life struggles, including a stint in reform school and an eight-to-thirteen-year sentence for armed robbery. During his incarceration, he developed a passion for reading, which led him to explore a wide range of literature, including works by prominent authors like Langston Hughes and James Baldwin. It was in prison that he began writing, ultimately producing his first novel, "Howard Street," published in 1968 just before his release.
Heard's literary career continued as he wrote several semiautobiographical novels that depicted life in urban ghettos. He also made significant contributions to academia, teaching creative writing and literature at Fresno State College and Rutgers University. Beyond writing, Heard engaged in various cultural activities, including hosting a television show and participating in jazz bands, showcasing his diverse talents. His legacy includes his influence on literature concerning African American experiences and his recognition through awards for both his writing and teaching. Heard passed away from Parkinson's disease on March 16, 2004, leaving behind an unpublished novel and three children.
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Subject Terms
Nathan C. Heard
Writer
- Born: November 7, 1936
- Birthplace: Newark, New Jersey
- Died: March 16, 2004
- Place of death: Livingston, New Jersey
Biography
Nathan C. Heard was born on November 7, 1936, in Newark, New Jersey, to a laborer, Nathan E. Heard, and a blues singer, Gladys Pruitt Heard. Raised by his mother and grandmother, he left school at fifteen after completing the tenth grade. He fell in with the denizens of his ghetto neighborhood, did a stint in reform school, and, in 1959, began serving an eight-to thirteen-year sentence at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton for armed robbery.
Because prisoners were not given access to radio or television, Heard’s life revolved around sports and singing doo-wop with other inmates in the yard. Out of sheer boredom, he began reading, having finished only two books prior to incarceration, The Lou Gehrig Story and The Babe Ruth Story. At first he consumed all the science fiction and soft core pornography he could get his hands on, but he later enjoyed the works of Langston Hughes, Norman Mailer, LeRoi Jones, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Jean Genet, and Samuel Beckett. Eventually, he became acquainted with the writings of Malcolm X and became involved with the prison population of Nation of Islam adherents. He was released in 1966, returning once for a parole violation.
It was while in prison that he began work on his first novel, Howard Street (1968), a raw account of life in the ghetto, the neighborhood of his youth, with its pimps, prostitutes, pushers, and crooked cops. His mother, impressed with the rough draft, showed it to Heard’s lawyer, who then sent it to a publisher. The book was published in 1968, one month before Heard left prison for the last time. His subsequent novels were either semiautobiographical or reflected lives on ghetto streets.
In 1969, Fresno State College (later California State University, Fresno) hired Heard to teach creative writing, an assignment that resulted in his winning the university’s distinguished teaching award in 1970. After a year, he went on to teach literature and creative writing at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. In the ensuing years, he hosted a television show, New Jersey Speaks; was a speech writer for Kenneth Gibson, mayor of Newark; edited a city newspaper; and did freelance writing for The New York Times. He sang and played drums in jazz bands and, in 1973, appeared in Gordon’s War, an all-black film later classified as one of many in the genre known as blaxploitation. He gave speeches and continued writing, winning two author awards. He left behind one unpublished novel and three children upon his death from Parkinson’s disease on March 16, 2004, in Livingston, New Jersey.