Claude Brown, whose 1965 book, “Manchild in the Promised Land,” chronicled his ascent from a harrowing childhood of violent crime and poverty in Harlem and became a classic of American literature, has died at 64.
Mr. Brown died Saturday of a lung condition, said Laura Higgins, his companion.
“Manchild in the Promised Land” quickly became a best seller, opening up a new world to mainstream audiences with its raw narrative of a boyhood spent among killers, drug addicts and prostitutes.
Although not published as a memoir, it closely paralleled Mr. Brown’s life.
Published at the height of the civil rights movement, the book reached far beyond the traditional literary world, drawing new attention to the lives of urban blacks.
It has sold more than 4 million copies and has been translated into 14 languages. Today, it sells more than 30,000 copies a year.
As a youngster, Mr. Brown–known as Sonny to his friends and in the book — was expelled from school at 8, admitted to a street gang at 9, shot in the leg during a burglary at 13 and confined to a reform school at 14.
Eventually, he began attending night classes at a high school, supporting himself by working as a busboy. He went on to Howard University in Washington, graduating in 1965.
The heart of the book, to many, was its evocation of an astonishing culture of violence that gripped much of Harlem.
After the book was published, Mr. Brown spent much of the following two decades writing magazine articles, lecturing and teaching.
