Ralph McGill

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For the American football player, see Ralph McGill (American football).

Ralph McGill
Peabody Award Board of Jurors
In office
1945–1968
Personal details
Born(1898-02-05)February 5, 1898
near, Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, U.S.
DiedFebruary 3, 1969(1969-02-03) (aged 70)
Resting placeWestview Cemetery
Military service
Branch/service United States Marine Corps
Battles/warsWorld War I

Ralph Emerson McGill (February 5, 1898 – February 3, 1969) was an American journalist and editorialist. An

Peabody Awards Board of Jurors, serving from 1945 to 1968.[1] He won a Pulitzer Prize
for editorial writing in 1959.

Early life and education

McGill was born February 5, 1898, near Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee. He attended school at The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, but did not graduate from Vanderbilt because he was suspended his senior year for writing an article in the student newspaper critical of the school's administration. McGill served in the Marine Corps during World War I.[2]

Career in journalism

After the war, McGill got a job working for the sports department of the

Rosenwald Fellowship in 1938, which allowed him to cover the Nazi takeover of Austria in 1938.[3] These articles earned him a spot as executive editor of the Constitution, which he used to highlight the effects of segregation.[3] In response, many angry readers sent threats and letters to McGill. Some acted on the threats and burned crosses at night on his front lawn, fired bullets into the windows of his home and left crude bombs in his mailbox.[4]

Syndicated columnist

In the late 1950s, McGill became a

Lyndon Johnson
, acting as a civil rights advisor and behind the scenes envoy to several African nations.

Final years and legacy

In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, McGill received the

The Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia, featuring a nationally recognized journalist. In 1970 McGill was inducted into the Georgia Newspaper Hall of Fame.[5]

His personal papers were donated to

National Public Broadcasting Prime Time Special, Dawn's Early Light: Ralph McGill and the Segregated South (1988), documented his impact. Burt Lancaster voiced McGill and prominent figures appear such as Julian Bond, Tom Brokaw, Jimmy Carter, John Lewis, Vernon Jordan, Herman Talmadge, Sander Vanocur, Andrew Young, and Pulitzer Prize winning journalists Harry Ashmore, Eugene Patterson and Claude Sitton.[8][9]

McGill is buried in Atlanta's historic Westview Cemetery.

Works

  • McGill, Ralph (1980). The Best of Ralph McGill: Selected Columns. Selected by Michael Strickland, Harry Davis, and Jeff Strickland. Atlanta: Cherokee Publishing.
    ISBN 0877970521
    .
  • —————— (2009). The Fleas Come With the Dog. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing.
    ISBN 9781104847272
    .
  • —————— (1984). No Place to Hide: the South and Human Rights, vol. I. Edited with an introduction by
    ISBN 9780865541085
    .
  • —————— (1984). No Place to Hide: the South and Human Rights, vol. II. Edited with an introduction by
    ISBN 9780865541092
    .
  • —————— (1992). The South and the Southerner. Athens, Georgia:
    ISBN 0820314439
    .
  • —————— (1983). Southern Encounters: Southerners of Note in Ralph McGill's South. Macon, Georgia:
    ISBN 9780865540507
    .

References

  1. ^ "George Foster Peabody Awards Board Members". Peabody Awards. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  2. ^
    ISBN 1-57356-111-8. (available on Google books)
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-679-40381-7
    .
  4. ^ Lippman, Theo (2003). "McGill and Patterson: Journalists for Justice". Virginia Quarterly Review (Autumn).
  5. newspapers.com
    .
  6. ^ King, Martin Luther (April 16, 1963). "Letter from Birmingham Jail". Bates College. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  7. ^ Bynum, Russ, "Opera Tells How Georgia Racism Backfired", Associated Press, April 19, 2007. Accessed January 27, 2009.
  8. ^ "Dawn's Early Light: Ralph McGill and the Segregated South (1988)". IMDb. Center for Contemporary Media. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  9. ^ Goodman, Walter (August 17, 1989). "Review/Television; A Southern Journalist and Civil Rights". The New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2017.

Further reading

External links
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