Biography
Bebe Moore Campbell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to George and Doris Moore. After her parents' divorce, Campbell started sending her father serial short stories when he moved to North Carolina. She later credited these short stories as the beginning of her career as a writer. Due to the influence of her strict mother, Campbell went on to be a straight "A" student at Philadelphia High School for Girls and an Elementary Education graduate of the University of Pittsburgh.
After college Campbell taught elementary school in Atlanta, Georgia, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC. While teaching in Atlanta, Campbell took a writing class from Toni Cade Bambara and was bitten by the writing bug. Campbell also worked at Howard University in Washington, DC as a publicist.
In 1976, Essence Magazine bought one of Campbell's short stories. Thinking that she was on her way to becoming a novelist, Campbell submitted several more stories to Essence to no avail. One day, the editor of Essence was at Howard University for a conference and Campbell seized an opportunity to talk to her in the ladies bathroom. Campbell was told that if she wrote non-fiction instead of fiction, there was a good chance the magazine would print more of her work. Campbell followed that advice and became a frequent contributor to Essence.
As a result of her start at Essence, Campbell became a prolific fiction and non-fiction writer. Her first non-fiction book was "Successful Women, Angry Men: Backlash in the Two-Career Marriage" and her first novel was "Your Blues Ain't Like Mine," a story based on Emmitt Till's 1955 murder. In addition to writing, Campbell was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio and an advocate for the mentally ill. She penned several books and commentaries on mental illness in the African-American community.
In February of 2006, Campbell was diagnosed with brain cancer, an illness to which she ultimately succumbed at the age of 56. Campbell died in Los Angeles, California, and is survived by her mother, Doris, husband, Ellis Gordon Jr., daughter, Maia Campbell, son, Ellis Gordon III, and two grandchildren.
