MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2018 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Senator(s) Jackson (11th), Butler, Barnett, Jordan, Turner-Ford, Simmons (12th), Frazier, Norwood, Dawkins, Witherspoon, Jackson (32nd), Horhn, Simmons (13th), Burton, Dearing
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION EXTENDING THE CONDOLENCES OF THE LEGISLATURE TO THE BEREAVED FAMILY OF LERONE BENNETT, JR., OF CLARKSDALE, INFLUENTIAL MISSISSIPPI JOURNALIST WHO CHRONICLED BLACK HISTORY.
WHEREAS, Lerone Bennett, Jr., of Clarksdale, Mississippi, who wrote influential books on African-American history and resilience and chronicled key events in the Civil Rights Movement as a Journalist and top Editor of Ebony Magazine, passed away on February 14, 2018; and
WHEREAS, Lerone Bennett, Jr., Historian and Executive Editor Emeritus of Ebony Magazine, was the author of ten books, including Before The Mayflower, which American Legacy Magazine called "one of the most popular single-volume histories of African-Americans ever written"; and
WHEREAS, the author, who called himself a witness-participant, was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, on October 17, 1928, the son of Alma Reed Bennett and Lerone Bennett, Sr., and moved with his family at an early age to Jackson, Mississippi. He graduated from Lanier High School in 1945 and started his journalism career as a teenage Reporter for the Jackson Advocate and the Mississippi Enterprise. During his early years, he led the Duke Bennett Jazz Orchestra, which performed in Mississippi and Louisiana; and
WHEREAS, after graduating from Atlanta's Morehouse College, he served as City Editor of the Atlanta Daily World. He joined Johnson Publishing Company in 1953 and became Associate Editor of Ebony in 1954. He became Executive Editor of Ebony in 1987 and Executive Editor Emeritus on his retirement in 2003. He assisted John H. Johnson, the legendary Ebony Publisher, in the preparation of his classic book, Succeeding Against The Odds, which is a must-read for anyone interested in African-Americans in corporate America; and
WHEREAS, the author was Visiting Professor of History at Northwestern University. His books, poems and short stories have been translated into French, German, Japanese, Swedish, Arabic and Russian. He received the Patron Saints Award of the Society of Midland Authors for a biography of his Morehouse collegemate, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the American Book Award for his study of Abraham Lincoln, Forced into Glory. He also received the Literature Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters; and
WHEREAS, in 1978, he was featured at the Chancellor's Symposium on Southern History at the University of Mississippi. In 1997, he was cited as a distinguished Mississippian at the University of Mississippi, and he was featured, along with Richard Wright, Eudora Welty, Shelby Foote, Margaret Walker and others, in the book Mississippi Writers: Reflections of Childhood and Youth; and
WHEREAS, Lerone served on the Board of Trustees of Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois, and the Chicago History Museum. President Clinton appointed him to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and President George W. Bush appointed him to the Presidential Commission on the proposed National Museum of African-American History and Culture; and
WHEREAS, in 1996, he received the highest honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, the "Salute to Greatness" Award. In 2003, Lerone received the highest honor of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, the Carter G. Woodson Medallion. In 2004, he received the Distinguished W.E.B. DuBois Scholarship Award of the Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists. In 2006, Lerone was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Black Journalists. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Delta Chi Journalism Society, Sigma Phi Pi and Kappa Alpha Psi. When Lerone was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame, he said, "I owe more than I can ever repay to the African-American schoolteachers of Mississippi, who literally saved my life and who taught me that there was no limit to what I could dream and do." His footprints are in the pavement at the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame in Atlanta for being a "foot soldier" in the movement. Lerone Bennett set the standard for his generation of African-American Journalists in America; and
WHEREAS, Lerone was preceded in death by his wife, Gloria, who was a Jet Journalist. She passed away in 2009. He is survived by three children; and
WHEREAS, it is with sadness that we note the passing of a respected author and historian who brought honor to his home community and to the State of Mississippi:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby extend the condolences of the Legislature to the bereaved family of Lerone Bennett, Jr., of Clarksdale, influential Mississippi Journalist who chronicled African-American history.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to the surviving family of Lerone Bennett, forwarded to the Mississippi Arts Commission, and made available to the Capitol Press Corps.