Elmer Beard is a published author, retired educator and lifelong freedom fighter. He is the Democratic Election Commissioner of Garland County, Arkansas, where he ensures the enfranchisement of every resident. He also served eight, two-year terms on the Hot Springs City Council, securing funds to build infrastructure throughout the overlooked African-American community.

Beard self-published his first book, "The Challengers: Untold Stories of African Americans Who Changed the System in One Small Southern Municipality," which was a grant recipient from the Clinton Family Foundation, the Arkansas Humanities Council, the Arkansas Black History Commission and the Oaklawn Scholarship Foundation. He co-wrote an unproduced play, "With All Deliberate Speed," about his experience as an English teacher preparing Black students to desegregate a White high school in the South.

Beard earned a B.A. in English from Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock and an M.S.E. in English education from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia. He also studied at the University of Missouri in Columbia and the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He ended his teaching career as an adjunct English professor at Arkansas Baptist College and National Park College in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

At 83, Beard is making his debut as a published poet in "Let Reason Roll: Race, Religion & Reflections." Beard is known as the Octo Griot. The T is silent.