NPR's Book of the Day A new book focuses on a queer, Black, WWII-era translator who risked safety for love
Feb 12, 2026
Ethelene Whitmire, historian and professor of African American Studies, uncovers the life of Reed Peggram through family letters. She recounts his Cambridge education, his unrequited love for Leonard Bernstein, his choice to stay in Europe amid rising danger, relationships in Denmark and Italy, and the wartime and postwar struggles that shaped his fate.
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Chance Discovery Of A Family Archive
- Ethelene Whitmire discovered Reed Pegram's letters after a chance encounter at a Copenhagen talk in 2016.
- The family archive included over 200 letters from Paris, Copenhagen, and Florence that revived his story.
Grandmother's Labor Created Opportunity
- Laura Reed, Reed's grandmother, used domestic work to open access to elite institutions for him.
- Her efforts and contacts helped secure recommendations that sent Reed to Harvard.
Unrequited Letters To Leonard Bernstein
- Reed Pegram wrote unrequited love letters to Leonard Bernstein that revealed his sexuality.
- Those letters reside in the Library of Congress and showed Reed's passionate, romantic nature.
