William Blackwell Branch (September 11, 1927 – November 3, 2019)[1] was an American playwright who was also involved in many aspects of entertainment, including journalism, media production, editing, a short-lived career acting for television as well as talking on the radio.
He "wrote, directed, and produced extensively for the stage, television, radio, and his own media consulting and production firm".
His play Baccalaureate: Drama in Three Acts is about a young African-American female in a middle-class family, discussing the struggles she faces when it came to education.
Through his plays, such as In Splendid Error (1954) which tells in part the story of Frederick Douglass and his relationship with John Brown, A Wreath for Udomo (1961), Fifty Steps Toward Freedom (1970), and A Medal for Willie (1985), Branch explored and demonstrated societal problems in the unfair treatment of African Americans.
Along with this award Branch received "a Robert E. Sherwood Television Award; and a citation from the National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ)-the latter two are for his NBC television drama Light in the Southern Sky… Other honors included an American Film Festival Blue Ribbon Award and an Emmy nomination shared with fellow producer William Greaves for the PBS documentary film Still a Brother: Inside the Negro Middle Class and an NCCJ Citation for his PBS drama A Letter from Booker T….