After establishing himself as a premier graphic designer/artist operating his own company, First Impressions Design Studio, for over four decades, Rubin Bashir Benson launched out as a self-published author, researcher, and historian. Rubin loves his design work and artistry, but his curiosity attracted him to investigate people and organizations he was involved with, vaguely familiar with, or those he wanted more information about. This led him to research and write five books he subsequently self-published.
“Almost everything I’ve done, in terms of books, these topics chose me. The Philadelphia International records piece, I worked for Gamble and Huff, and I thought someone should do a compilation of their record album covers. The signatures book (African American Signatures) was the same thing. My son and daughter, when they were in elementary school, had pride in their ability to write and sign their names and come home to show their parents they could write their names. That inspired me to do the signatures book. The Jeremiah Shabazz book came about basically because of my history within the Nation of Islam, and I felt Jeremiah Shabazz, whom I’d met personally during his tenure as Minister in the city of Philadelphia Temple Number Twelve, I got to know him personally so I decided that somebody should tell his story. My latest book, which is about Holmesburg Prison, came about the same way. I was in Jum’ah Prayer, and the believers would normally go downstairs for a mid-day brunch afterward and sit in the cafeteria.”
From that experience, Rubin became involved with several Brothers he sat with on a regular basis–while he listened to their conversations about their lives and experiences. He was so impressed with their stories that he originally thought they were talking about being in college dormitories or the military. “Individuals would gather and have conversations after they picked up their meals and sit around the table interacting with individuals; there were certain topics they regularly talked about. One, in particular, seemed to me like they were talking about dormitory life, but the reality was they were talking about prison life. I was startled by that because I had never been incarcerated, so I wasn’t sure what they were discussing.”
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