Thank you very much. It is my pleasure to introduce a number of great winners to the Pulitzer Prizes tonight. Let me take a moment to recognize one of my predecessors both as the chair of the Tampa Bay Times company and of the Pulitzer Prize, andy barnes is with us. [applause] our purpose here this evening is to say happy birthday to the Pulitzer Prizes. They turn 100 years old this year, which is older than anybody in this room, i believe. [laughter] this is a great tribute to a robust and resilient american institution. So, lets also say thank you to Joseph Pulitzer who created these prizes. It is a very hard thing to win a pulitzer. It is hard even to become one of the finalists. Hundreds and hundreds of entries arrive in new york each year for prizes given in journalism, literature, and the arts. Volunteer juries of experts spend days winnowing down the entries. The Board Members read every finalists entry and vote on a winner. It is with great pleasure then to present to you these Pulitzer Prize winners whose work has inspired us and who join us here this evening. I will present them in Chronological Order of the year they won their prize. Please hold your applause until all of them has been introduced. Winner of the 1982 prize for Public Service, sydney freeburn. Winner of the 1988 prize for feature writing, jackie. Winner of the 199392 prize for feature writing for the New York Times, al raymes. Winner of the 1993 prize for the miami herald and a graduate of the poynter institute, liz. Winner of the 1998 prize for feature photography, Clarence William. Winner of the 2003 for the Baltimore Sun and another pointer graduate, danielle. Winner of the 2003 prize for commentary for the Washington Post, culber king. Winner of the 2004 prize, willard fits. Winner of the 2007 prize for history with his coauthor jean roberts, hank. Winner of the 2009 prize for the Washington Post, Eugene Robinson. Winner of the 2014 prize for commentary for the detroit free press, stephen henderson. And now, from your own newspaper, the Tampa Bay Times, winner of the 1985 prize for investigative reporting, lindsay morgan. [applause] please hold your applause. [laughter] you had been doing so well, too. [laughter] winner of the 1998 prize for feature writing, thomas french. Winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, duane gregory. Winner of the 2013 prize for editorial writing, tim higgins and dan ruth. [applause] we have a consistent offender here. [laughter] and winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, michael. Now, please joining in a round of applause. [applause] thank you very much and enjoy the evening. And now, in this evening of special moments where anyone may reign supreme, i think this may be it. Our keynote speaker is one of americas great champions of civil rights, social justice and equality. A legend, his legacy has affected us all. Congressman john lewis. [applause] to introduce him is the winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for commentary in the atlanta journalconstitution. Please welcome Cynthia Tucker haynes. [applause] cynthia good evening. It is fitting on this evening devoted to the history of civil rights and social justice in america that we hear from my dear friend, john lewis. What kind of prize, i wonder, does he deserve . Lets put it this way, his life is a prize. If we melted down the Precious Metals of a Pulitzer Prize and a Nobel Peace Prize and an oscar, and a medal of honor, and forged them to mint a prize of prizes, it would not do him justice. He was born the son of sharecroppers on february 21, 1940, outside of troy, alabama. He grew up on his familys farm and attended segregated Public Schools in pike county, alabama. As a young boy, he was inspired by the activism surrounding the montgomery bus boycott and the words of Martin Luther king jr. , which he heard on radio broadcast. He even read comic books where civil rights leaders were the heroes. In those pivotal moments, he made a decision to become a part of the Civil Rights Movement. While still a young man, john lewis became a nationally recognized leader. By 1963, he was dubbed one of the big six leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. At the age of 23, he was an architect of and the keynote speaker at the historic march on washington in august, 1963. In 1965, john helped spearhead one of the most seminal events of the Civil Rights Movement. Along with hosea williams, john lewis lead over 600 peaceful, orderly protesters across the Edmund Pettis bridge in selma, alabama on march seventh. They intended to march from selma to montgomery to demonstrate the need for Voting Rights in the state. The marchers were attacked by Alabama State troopers in a brutal confrontation that became known as bloody sunday. News broadcasts and photographs revealing the senseless cruelty of the segregated south helped hasten the passage of the Voting Rights act of 1965. Despite more than 40 arrests, physical attacks, and serious injuries, congressman lewis remains a devoted advocate of the philosophy of nonviolence. In the halfcentury since those momentous events, he has compiled an inspiring list of achievements too numerous to mention here. There is one accomplishment that fills him with pride. He is the coauthor of a graphic trilogy. In memorable language, it captures one of the most astonishing Life Experiences ever led by any american of any color. It offers to a new century and a new generation of the story of the people. Of the american people, that should never be forgotten. In the years ahead, as we create Pulitzer Prizewinning stories about the next battles for civil rights, social justice, and equality, there will be voices echoing from the past and into our future to inspire us. One of the most powerful will be the voice of john lewis. Join me now in welcoming him. [applause] john good evening. Thank you Cynthia Tucker, my good friend, for that warm and kind introduction. It is good to see you. It is good to be here. I am delighted to see each and every one of you. I want to thank the president of the poynter institute, tim franklin, and the Pulitzer Prize committee, who invited me to celebrate the 100th anniversary with you this evening. Cynthia told you that i did not grow up in a big city. [laughter] like st. Petersburg . Like washington d. C. , or new york . Miami . Tallahassee . [laughter] sarasota . [laughter] it is true that i grew up in rural alabama, 50 miles from montgomery, outside of a little place called troy. She told you that my father was she told you that my father was a sharecropper and a tennant farmer. She did not tell you that my grandfather worked on another persons land. She did not tell you that my greatgrandfather was a slave. She did not tell you that on a farm, it was my responsibility to care for the chickens, and i fell in love with raising chickens. [laughter] she did not tell you that as a little boy, i became so fond of raising chickens and i wanted to be a minister, that i would gather all of the chickens in the chicken yard [laughter] in this wonderful theater, and we would have church. [laughter] i would preach to the chickens, and when i look back, some of these chickens would bow and shake their heads. They never quite said amen. But i am convinced that some of those chickens in the 1940s and 1950s tended to listen to me better than some of my colleagues listen to me today. [laughter] [applause] and some of those chickens were just a little more productive. [laughter] but you who live in this Congressional District are more than lucky. You are truly blessed to have a wonderful Congress Person in cathy. [applause] visit montgomery, visit tuskegee, i saw the signs that said white men, colored man, white women, color waiting, white waiting. Go down to on a saturday afternoon to this theater, all of the black students had to go upstairs to the balcony. Although little white children went down to the first floor. I came home and asked my mother, father, grandparents, uncles and aunts, teachers, why . They said that is the way it is. Dont get into trouble. 1955, 15 years old in the 10th grade, i heard about what happened to them at teal emmett till. I heard about rosa parks. Heard the words from Martin Luther king jr. On the radio. The action of rosa parks, the words of dr. King inspired me to find a way to get in the way. I got in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble. We were too poor to have a subscription to the local newspaper. My grandfather had one. Each day, we would finish reading the montgomery advertising. We got the paper and we read it. One of my teachers was from montgomery. Who came to troy, the place doctor king called the four corners of alabama. He called me the boy from troy. He told me what was happening there. In 1957, at the age of 17 when i finished high school, i wanted to attend a School Called troy state college, now known as troy university. I never heard a word from the school, so i wrote a letter to Martin Luther king jr. , told him i needed his help, he wrote me back and sent me a roundtrip bus ticket and invited me to montgomery to meet with him. In the meantime, i had then excessive to a Little College called American Baptist college where i was going to study religion to study for the ministry. Dr. King heard i was there. He got back in church. In march 1958, the age of 18, i boarded a bus and traveled from troy to montgomery. There was a young lawyer by the name of fred gray, a lawyer for the montgomery movement, who became our lawyer during the freedom rides and in the march the march from selma to montgomery. Dr. King said, are you the boy from troy . Are you john lewis . And i said, dr. King, i am john robert lewis. I had a discussion with my mother and my father. They were afraid. They thought that they would lose the land. Thought our home would be bombed. They suggested i continue to study in nashville it was in nashville that hundreds of thousands of students expressed the way of love and nonviolence. By sitting down we were standing up for the best in america. Media, reporters, photographers helped move the city around the south and around the nation. Spread it like wild fire. We were beaten. We were arrested. We were jailed. Someone would come up and spit on us. We would be arrested, and jailed. We were not trespassing. We were orderly, we were peaceful. The first time i got arrested. I heard that i make it arrested and i went into what some used people young people called trash. Cash. I went downtown and bought a used suit at a used mens store and paid five dollars for it. I saw a picture a few days ago. I looked sharp. [laughter] i could probably sell it on ebay for a lot of money. [laughter] so i come here tonight to thank members from this institution of finding a way to get in the way. Finding a way to get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble, now more than ever before. We need the press to be a headlight and not a taillight. To get out there and push and pull. We are not there yet. We have not created a beloved community and not yet laid down the burden of the race. Racism is still deeply embedded in our society. When you can have a member of congress saying to the president of the United States, you lie. When you can have a governor in a state put her finger in the face of the president of the United States, that is not right. That is not fair. Would someone do that to a white president . We should not sweep the issue of race under the rug, or in some dark corner. We must confront it head on. If we fail to do what is right, and fair, and just, it will consume all of us. You have an obligation, you have a mission and a mandate. You have it. You have a moral obligation pick up your pens and pencils, use your cameras to tell the story, to make it plain, to make it real. It does not matter whether we are black or white, hispanic, asian american, or native american, we are one people, one family, we all live in the same house, the american house. The late randolph said to us back in 1963 when we were planning the march on washington , he said it over and over again , maybe our foremothers and our forefathers all came to this great land in different ships, but we are all in the same boat. Me, you, all of us. We can do better. We must do better. Maybe Begin Service a model for the rest of the world. [applause] im going to tell you a story and that i will be finished because this is your night, not mine. I am just a poor, country where that happened to be elected to congress. [laughter] when i was growing up, 50 miles from montgomery, on a farm that my father bought and still owns today, i have an aunt, and she lives in a shotgun house. She did not have a green, manicured lawn. Just a simple, plain dirt yard. You have never seen a shotgun house. One way in, one way out. A house you could bounce a basketball through the front door and it would go straight out the back door. [laughter] from time to time, my aunt geneva would go out in the woods, tie tree branches together, and make a broom. She would sweep the yard very clean two or three times a week, especially on a saturday or sunday because she wanted this shotgun house yard to look good during the weekend. One saturday afternoon, a group of my brothers and sisters and a few of my first cousins, there were only i was only four years old or five years old, and an unbelievable storm came up, thunder started rolling in lightning started flashing, and the rain started beating on the old tin roof of the shotgun house. My aunt started crying. She thought the old house would blow away. She got all of us little Children Together and told us to hold hands, and we did as we were told. The wind continued to blow and the thunder continue to roll and the lightning continue to flash on the roof of this old house and we cried and we cried. We try to hold the house down with our little bodies. We never, ever left the house. The wind may blow, the lightning may flash, but you must stay with the house. You must not give up you must hold on tell the truth, report the truth, disturb the order of things, find a way to get in the way and make a little noise with your pens, pencils, and with your cameras. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you congressman lewis for your words tonight and for your example and your Service Every day. All of us, within the sound of my voice, enveloped with the sound of his words, how fortunate are we tonight, a very special night in st. Petersburg. Know that we are blessed. Thank you, congressman lewis. [applause] now, please help me welcome dr. Roy peter clark. Teacher to many, mentor to more, and Vice President and senior scholar at the poynter institute. [applause] good evening. You may not realize it, but every person in this audience has been affected by the Pulitzer Prize. The journalism and arts that are in the prices have lighted the way for communities and countries and the world. The price has gone to thousands of journalists working in many different categories of journalism. In the final arts and literature, prices have gone into whose work illuminated the themes of civil rights, social justice and equality. In 2008, the Great American troubadour bob dylan won a special Pulitzer Prize citation for his impact on popular music and american culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power. To remind us of that power marking dramatic social change, we present florida troubadour bill schustik. Come gather round people wherever you roam and admit that the waters around you have grown and accept it that soon youll be drenched to the bone if your time to you is worth savin then you better start swimmin or youll sink like a stone for the times they are achangin come mothers and fathers throughout the land and dont criticize what you cant understand your sons and your daughters are beyond your command your old road is rapidly agin please get out of the new one if you cant lend your hand for the times they are achangin come senators, congressmen please heed the call dont stand in the doorway dont block up the hall for he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled theres a battle outside and it is ragin itll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls for the times they are achangin [applause] host over the next hour, we will experience in words and song, times of change in america. An america that today is still struggling for social justice, civil rights, and equality. In our historical retrospective, we will highlight the work of more than two dozen winners of the Pulitzer Prize. Those whose work inspired both small communities and the nation. Along the spine of this work we will honor a dozen editorial writers from 19461972, the classic period of the Civil Rights Movement. These southern editorialists, 11 white men and one white woman, would risk life, limb and livelihood to write what they believed. At the south must change. That legal barriers to equality must be torn down. That violence and hatred must give way to peace, tolerance, and justice. These writers combined three virtues that helped them win the day. They had the moral courage to stand for what was right against a wave of opposition. They had t physical courage to help them resist threats of violence to their person, loved ones, their property and businesses. And they had a devotion to craft and an understanding that in the end, not only was the pen or camera mightier than the sword, it was also mightier than the flaming cross. Host most of these writers also signified a form of humility that understood the plain truth. That the greatest expressions of courage are not as exercised by white men and women in offices, they were expressed by young black men and women who put their bodies on the line in buses, at lunch counters, and in churches, voting lines and in protests across the south. They won no Pulitzer Prizes, but their names are part of history king, lewis, young, nash, and so many more. The first Pulitzer Prizes were presented in 1917, it would take 33 years of prizes before the first africanamerican, gwendolyn brooks, would be declared a winner. And 52 years before the first africanamerican journalist would win as an individual. It did not have to be that way. The likes of w. E. B. Dubois, langston hughes, richard wright, were producing work equal or superior to privileged white counterparts. Reporters and columnists, from dozens of influential black newspapers were doing a better job of covering the Racial Injustices in america than papers like the Washington Post and New York Times, but the color line would not be crossed for most american institutions, including the Pulitzer Prizes, of the First Century of their existence. Host please accept this as a warning, many accomplishments we will celebrate were in the face of terror. Some of that violence, including the horror of lynching, will be revisited tonight. You will hear race descriptors from history, such as color and negro, and yes, you will hear the n word, but only as part of history. They prizes are not about whites rescuing blacks from racial violence, they are about white editorialists willing to be carried along the sea of change that was hard for them to imagine, a sea cresting with the courage and endurance and patriotism of africanamericans. Ladies and gentlemen, it is 1919. We begin, not in the south, but in the heartland omaha, nebraska. Please greet the Great Southern historian Ray Arsenault and bob devon jones. [applause] good evening. When we scan American History for those signature moments and events that mark progress in civil rights, social justice, and equality, certain dates pop into view. 1863, perhaps. Or 1963. We are likely to skip over 1919, which would be a terrible mistake. Black soldiers returned from europe after the great war with a notion that their sacrifice would be honored and that racial equality would rule the day. Instead, that summer of 1919 became known as the red summer, a bloody season of resistance, rioting, oppression, terrorism, mob rule, lynching, and torture. W. E. B. Dubois, perhaps the greatest black editorialist of the 20th century, a scholar and writer who in an alternate universe might have won a handful of Pulitzer Prizes, wrote this in 1919. This is the country to which we soldiers of democracy return. This is the fatherland for which we fought. But it is our fatherland. It was right for us to fight. The faults of our country are our faults. Under similar circumstances we would fight again. But by the god of heaven, we are cowards if now that the war is over, we do not usher every part of our brain to fight a sterner, longer, more unending battle against the forces of hell in our own land. We return, we return from fighting. We return fighting. Make way for democracy. We have saved it in france and by the great jehovah we will save it in the United States of america or know the reason why. 1920, because of political corruption, labor unrest, and racial scapegoating, the city of omaha, nebraska would experience one of the darkest moments in American History. A mob of as many as 12,000 would attack and burn the courthouse. Their target was a 40yearold black man, william brown, falsely accused of raping a white woman. When the mayor intervened, they strung up the mayor. The mob made up of many young people, including women and children, captured william brown. He was beaten and hanged, his body riddled with bullets and dragged through the streets. People played with his remains. Army troops established martial law, but it was too late. The next morning, the editor of the omaha evening world herald, harvey e. Newbranch, wrote an editorial with the title, law and the jungle. To read from it is butch ward. There is the rule of the jungle, and there is the rule of law. Under jungle rule, no mans life is safe. No mans wife, mother, sister, children, home, liberty, rights, property. Let reverence of the law be breathed by every mother to the babe that is on her lap. Let it be taught in schools, seminaries and colleges. Let it be written in primers, in spelling books and almanacs. Let it be preached from pulpits and proclaimed to legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. Let it become the political religion of the nation. For his editorial integrity and defense of the rule of law, Harvey Newbranch was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. [applause] here is the Vice President of the poynter institute, kelly mcbride. [applause] the 1920s saw a resurgence of the ku klux klan, and not just in the south. On several occasions, the Pulitzer Board awarded prizes to newspapers who were investigating the klan. In 1928, the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing would go to Grover Cleveland hall, the editor of the montgomery advertiser. By then, the ku klux klan included many Law Enforcement officers, politicians, and senators from the state of alabama. Too often there was silence from the pulpit and the press. The exception was grover hall senior. In july 1927, he was outraged at the flogging of a young black man at a rural church. He led his newspaper on a crusade designed to bring the ku klux klan to justice. He exposed members, and supported a lot to make it illegal to wear the mask in public. Here is another great editor to read what hall wrote. Mask wearing in Public Places is indefensible and must be outlawed. All good citizens we believe, must now realize that the mask in alabama is a source of unmitigated evil. It is a menace to life and limb, and a reproach to civilized society. Concealed under hood and robe, men have stalked about in the night in alabama and cruelly assaulted helpless people. In other instances, intimidated and wronged citizens of this state. Grover hall died in 1941 at the age of 53, a passing that was noted and mourned by many journalists and citizens of alabama and the south, for standing almost alone against the forces of corruption and oppression in his state. Grover Cleveland Hall senior was awarded the 1928 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. [applause] a vision of what life was like in small southern towns during the depression, has been shaped in powerful ways by a novel that won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1961, to kill a mockingbird by harper lee. To help us relive that work, we present a young lady, well, i think she should just present herself. Good evening. My name is jean louise finch, actually my name is charlie daly, i live next door to roy peter clark. Who is the best neighbor in the whole world. He told me to say that. [laughter] at least for tonight, you can call me scout. You know me as a 10yearold girl in the novel, to kill a mockingbird. By the way, in 1961, the author harper lee won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Go ahead, you can clap. [applause] we were all sad to hear about her passing. Something strange happened last year, another book about me was published, it was called, go set a watch man. It is about me as a young woman, but also about my father, atticus finch. A lot of people liked my daddy in mockingbird, he was kind, fair, and loving. I do not know what happened to him in watchman. Lets for a minute forget about the old atticus, and remember the young one. The one that inspired us all. Here to read about him for us, mr. Mcginnis. It is 1935. Remember, you are the jury ladies and gentlemen, and he will give his closing statements. Gentlemen, i shall be brief. I would like to use my remaining time with you to remind you that this case is not a difficult one. It does not require the sifting of complicated facts, but it does require the certainty, beyond all reasonable doubt, as to the guilt of the defendent. To begin with, this case should have never come to trial. It is as simple as black and white. And if so, a humble, quiet negro, who had the integrity to feel sorry for a white woman, has had to put his word against two white people. And they wanted you to go along with them, with the cynical confidence that you would go a long with the evil assumption that all negroes lie, that all negroes are basically immoral beings, that negro men are not to be trusted with our women. An assumption that associates with minds of their caliber. One more thing before i quit, Thomas Jefferson once said that all men are created equal. There is one way in which all men are created equal. There is one Human Institution that makes the pauper the equal of a rockefeller. The stupid man an equal to einstein. And an ignorant man equal to any college president. That institution is the court. Now it could be the Supreme Court or the most humblest of courts in the land, or this court which you honorably serve. Our courts have their faults, as does any Human Institution, but in this country, our courts are the great levelers. And in this country, all men are created equal. Now, i do not firmly hold on to the idea that our courts are all that they are supposed to be. That is no ideal to me. But they are representative of our people. Gentleman, you have heard all of the evidence given. You have heard the testimony and i would like you to release the defendant to his family, in the name of god, do your duty. [applause] 1946, after the depression and world war ii, america and would soon be forced to see Racial Justice in a new way. American soldiers would go to war and see firsthand oppression, intolerance, and racial hatred and where it would lead the concentration camps. One soldier was named Hodding Carter jr. He returned home to start a newspaper in mississippi, which would become the delta democrat times. He wrote about Racial Injustice and the need for social change, a stance that earned him scorn and boycott. In 1946, his editorials won him a Pulitzer Prize. His most famous and most reprinted was titled, go for broke the slogan of japenese american soldiers. In it, he offered a righteous plea challenging america to abandon prejudice against japanese citizens, especially those who fought bravely for the american cause. On august 27, 1945 he wrote it is so easy for a dominant race to explain good or evil, patriotism or treachery, courage or cowardice, in terms of skin color. So easy and so tragically wrong. Too many have committed the wrong against the loyal nese, who have proven themselves good americans, even while others of us with our actions against them have shown ourselves to be bad americans. The nese slogan of go for broke could be adopted by all americans in the days ahead. We need to shoot the works in the fight for tolerance. The message found in international stage. In 1955, he wrote passionately against the White Citizens Council that had established themselves in the south as the main street version of the ku klux klan. His stance earned him the enmity of the legislature, which took a vote and condemned the article as quote, a lie by a nigger loving editor. He responded by a vote of 8919, the Mississippi House of representatives has resolved the editor of this newspaper into a liar, because of an article i wrote. If this charge were true, it would make me well qualified to serve in that body. [laughter] it is not true. So to even things up, i hereby resolve, by a vote of 10, that there are 89 liars in the state legislature. [laughter] i am hopeful that this feverlike ku kluxism, will run its course. Meanwhile, those 89 character robbers can go to hell, collectively or singly, and wait there until i back down. They need not plan on returning. [applause] Hodding Carter junior was a man of his time, but he stood out as a beacon in his support of tolerance and opposition to bigotry and hatred. He recognized that the award of 1946 gave his work a stature her that helped sustain him in the difficult years to come. [applause] it is the 1950s and the classic time that we know as the Civil Rights Movement is ahead. It is the decade in which Young John Lewis will come of age. He will learn, he will listen, and he will lead. John lewis would not be turned around on his march to social justice and equality. No freedom song signifies that feeling more than this one. Aint gonna let nobody turn me around, turn me around, turn me around aint gonna let nobody turn me around im gonna keep on awalkin keep on atalkin marchin down to freedom land aint gonna let no injunction turn me around, turn me around, turn me around aint gonna let no injunction turn me around im gonna keep on awalkin keep on atalkin marchin down to freedom land aint gonna let no hatred turn me around, turn me around, turn me around aint gonna let no hatred turn me around im gonna keep on awalkin keep on atalkin marchin down to freedom land aint gonna let nobody turn me around, turn me around, turn me around aint gonna let nobody turn me around im gonna keep on awalkin keep on atalkin marchin up to freedom land aint gonna let nobody turn me around, turn me around, turn me around aint gonna let nobody turn me around im gonna keep on awalkin keep on atalkin marchin down to freedom land aint gonna let nobody turn me around, turn me around, turn me around aint gonna let nobody turn me around im gonna keep on awalkin keep on atalkin marchin down to freedom land [applause] it is 1952. Ladies and gentlemen, it is our pleasure to introduce two of americas greatest journalists, father and son, colbert king of the Washington Post and rob king of espn. [applause] [applause] good evening, father. [laughter] good evening, number one son. Its amazing being here together. I am proud of you for all of the great journalism you have created at espn. And i understand that you are on the board of trustees. You are kind of a big shot. [laughter] did you clean your room . Some things never change. [laughter] i am very proud of you dad for winning the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. [applause] the citation says you won for against the grain columns that spoke to people with ferocity and wisdom. Ferocity and wisdom. That reminds me a lot of high school. [laughter] ferocious and wise. That would be me. [laughter] dad, i have a question. What is that . Why is there no Pulitzer Prize for sports journalism . That is not true, four sports columnists have won for commentary. That is only 4 in 100 years. How many of you think that there should be a Pulitzer Prize for sports journalism . [applause] i have an idea. Why dont you tell them about the story of Johnny Bright. Good idea. In 1951, one of the nations greatest athletes plays football for Drake University in iowa. He bears the storybook name of Johnny Bright. Among his accomplishments, he would lead the nation in offense and compete for a heisman trophy. Bright would have a legendary career in the Canadian Football League and be inducted into their hall of fame, and also contribute to society as an educator and coach. But his life story was dominated by something that happened on a football field in a game between drake and the school that is now Oklahoma State. Johnny bright was a negro athlete. His very presence on the field, not to say his dominance, was offensive to some in the days of jim crow. In october of 1951, in what is still referred to as the Johnny Bright incident, a player for Oklahoma State named will banks smith, viciously struck bright with an elbow to the jaw. The violence was not atypical for the plays at the time, because the equipment was inadequate. But it was common speculation that the blow was racially motivated, something that smith denied all of his life. He claims he was nasty to everybody. [laughter] the incident might have passed quickly, except for the spot work of two photographers from the des moines register. It was an important game in the missouir valley conference and the two photographers planned to shoot in the First Quarter and get back to des moines. In a sequence that would be republished in the New York Times, they captured the brutality and illegality of the cheap shot that would knock bright out of the game. Years later, bright would testify that the broken jaw was worth it. It led to a change in the rules to make it safer for players, and led to better protective equipment, such as face guards. I played without face guards and you see the evidence of it. But so many people say i look like you. It also revealed the distance the nation would need to travel in the journey toward Racial Justice. With their timely photo sequence, the two photographers won the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for photography, magnifying the incident. Drake would withdraw from the conference and eventually name their football field for Johnny Bright. Oklahoma state would eventually apologize, 54 years later, for the incident. This came 22 years after the death of Johnny Bright. Great job, son. Thank you, dad. Can i get a hug . Call your mother. I [applause] special moments all night long. Makes me want to hug my dad. Joining me now in 1953, every now and then the board would award a prize for Public Service. The award for Public Service would not go to a big city newspaper, but to two tiny newspapers in north carolina. One was the tabor city tribune, published by Horace Carter and the other was the whiteville news reporter, published by willard cole. They were awarded the prize for battling the ku klux klan at the risk of economical cost and personal danger, culminating in the conviction of over 100 klansmen and an terrorism in their community. Carter wrote more than 100 editorials and news pieces, condemning the ku klux klan over the threeyear period. [applause] please welcome two journalists, a veteran news anchor and the Vice President for diversity at National Public radio and poynter institutes former dean. Please greet denise white and keith woods. [applause] thank you. Much of the pulitzer history that is to follow was created in the aftermath of brown versus the board of education, that held that separate was not equal and that Public Schools should be desegregated with deliberate speed. That final oxymoron was the excuse for many to delay the inevitable. Consider the story of miss lucy, the first black student to attend the university of alabama in 1956. The daughter of a sharecropper, she attended school in alabama and the allblack miles college. She and a friend were accepted into the university of alabama, until it was learned that they were black. With the naacp they sued the university, a case that took three years. On february 3, 1956, lucy enrolled in the Masters Program in Library Science and attended her first class. Three days later, a mob of more than 1000 men pelted the car in which lucy rode, threatening lynch her. There were also attacks on the house of the resident of the university. She was expelled for her own safety and driven off campus on the floor of a car. The day after the riots, the editor of a local newspaper, buford boone, wrote the editorial entitled, what price for peace . When mobs start imposing their will on universities, we have a bad situation. That is what happened at the university of alabama and it is a development over which the university of alabama, the people of this state, and the people of tuscaloosa, should be ashamed and more than a little afraid. Every person who witnessed the events speak with the tragic nearness with which the university became associated with murder. Yes, i said murder. The target was miss lucy, her crime, she was born black. And she was moving against Southern Custom and tradition, but with the law, all the way to the Supreme Court, on her side. What does it mean today to have the law on your side . The answer has to be nothing. That is, if a mob disagrees with you and the court. Yes, there is peace on the University Campus this morning. What price has been paid for it . In response to his work, buford boone and his family were threatened. His phone would ring every 20 minutes, keeping his family awake through the night. His windows would be broken and if boone was away, his wife would be called to tell her that he was in trouble. Facing all of this, boone was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. [applause] and as for ms. Lucy, in april 1988, her expulsion was anulled by the university of alabama and she enrolled in the graduate program of education and received a degree in may of 1992. In a complete reversal of spirit from when she was first admitted, the university named a scholarship in her honor and unveiled a portrait of her in the student union, overlooking the most trafficked spot on campus. An enscryption reads, her courage won the right for students of all races to attend the university. [applause] good evening, my name is jackie. In 1958, the Pulitzer Prizes for Public Service and editorial writing went to the arkansas gazette for their coverage on the desegregation of a high school in little rock. It was a time when southerners would take action not seen in a century. Against the Supreme Court order, to desegregate the Public Schools, they called up in National Guard and state police to surround the high school and prevent 15 black students from registering. A famous photograph shows a young student walking unprotected, surrounded by white students yelling at her. This would inspire the president to move federal troops in to restore order and protect the students who had become part of civil rights history, known as the little rock 9. The coverage of the event also helped to restore order and rule of law. Coverage that was punctuated by a frontpage editorial by harry ashmore. Like many southern editorialists that would follow him, he based his argument on the idea that justice should be preserved by following the law, not by defining it. In 1957, he wrote, reflections in a hurricanes eye. Somehow, sometime, every person will have to be counted. We will have to decide what kind of people we are. Whether we obey the law only when we approve of it, or whether we obey it no matter how distasteful we may find it. There are those, of course, who admire courage and in the calculated confusion of the hour, have even come to believe that he may yet stand against the government of the United States. There are also those who admired king canute, when he ordered the sea to turn back. But it did not turn back and there is no indication that the federal government can or will abandon the authority of the United States Supreme Court. For this, harry ashmore, one of the souths leading voices on matters of race, was awarded the 1958 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. [applause] we should not leave little rock in 1957 without a reference to the courage and the dignity of a reporter, alex wilson, covering these events for the memphis tristate defender, a black newspaper of the day. What were the chances of his winning a Pulitzer Prize . The white mob on the outskirts took out their anger on reporters and photographers, black and white, who are covering the event. And hank klibanoff, who won a Pulitzer Prize, described the scene. And who better to narrate it, then the writer himself. [applause] as the assault continued on the journalists, the Station Wagon with the nine black students eased to the entrance of the school and two students and two adults emerged. As they entered, they examined the crowd with curiosity, but with a little interest. Meanwhile, alex wilson taunted, pushed, slapped as he kept walking, was suddenly rushed from behind by a man who planted one foot and swung as hard as he could and slammed his shoe into the base of wilsons spine. Another man kicked him so hard that the reporters frame looked as if it would fold. Still, he lurched forward. Seeing that his hat had been knocked to the ground, he stopped, slowly, almost casually as if to give them no credit for altering his course, he bent down to pick it up. In that moment, he had a chance to run and he might have been able to get away. But he had made that vow, long ago in florida, i decided not to run, he wrote later, that if i were to be beaten, i would take it walking if i could, not running. as the crowd was throwing punches and kicks, he picked up his hat, stood erect and took time to run his hands along the crease. His refusal to show fear infuriated the mob. Run, run, one man yelled. Wilson, who was surrounded, moved ahead. A more vicious attack followed, including a hard kick to the center of his chest. Wilson holding his hat, even as he fell to the ground. He raised himself up and kept walking. He looked straight ahead and he took one more powerful blow to the head. Some witnesses said it was a brick, before being pushed away by the crowd. The nine negro students had quietly slipped into the high school. As the mob went wild with the realization that the school had been integrated, wilson walked to his car. He still had not unfastened the middle button of his suit coat. Wilson died on october 11, 1960, at age 51. No doubt from the longterm effects of the beating he took in little rock. The tristate defender ran a photograph, showing wilson lying in state, above it the headline, editor wilson, back home to stay. There is no category of Pulitzer Prize for a journalist who becomes a martyr to the cause of civil rights, social justice, and equality. If there were, alex wilson, the reporter who would not run, would head the list. [applause] missing from all of this was the story of everyday africanamerican families, working and struggling, with a deck stacked against them. Together, we celebrate the work of a playwright, an africanamerican whose body of work stands to the like of Tennessee Williams and arthur miller. He is our beloved august wilson. He won a pulitzer for drama in 1987 for fences and another in 1990, for the piano lesson. On three other occasions his plays were finalists. That is one of the singular accomplishments in pulitzer history. Few directors know his plays better than bob devon jones, the creater of studio at 620. He has been a visionary leader in the development of the cultural life of st. Petersburg. And this evening, with the assistance of a young actor, he will perform a famous scene from, fences. It is 1957, troy has led a hard life. In his youth he was a great ballplayer, but came to see the limitations afforded a young black man. The only salvation was a form of manhood, attached to hard work. He is tough on his son corey who wants to also be a ballplayer. He wants him to get a job. His son asks him a provocative question. [indiscernible] how come you aint never liked me . Like you . Who the hell say i got to like you . What law is there to say that i have to like you. Or stand in my face and ask a question like that, talking about liking somebody. Come over here when i talk to you. Straighten up, god damn it. What law is there that says i got to like you . None. Dont you eat everyday . Answer me when i talk to you, dont you eat everyday . Yes. As long as you live in my house, you better put a sir at the end of that when i talk to you . Got clothes on your back . Why do you think that is . Because of you. Why do you think that is . Because, because you like me. Like you . I go out there every morning, bust my butt, put up with those crackers every day because i like you . You are the biggest fool i ever saw. It is my job, my responsibility. A man have to take care of his family. You live in my house, fill your belly with my food. Because i like you . Because you are my flesh and blood. I aint got to like you. I aint got to like you. Mr. Rand dont give me my money on payday because he like me. He gives me my money because he owes me. I will give you everything i have to give you, i gave you life. Me and my mother worked that out. And liking your black ass was not part of the bargain. Dont go through life wondering if people like you or not. You best be trying to make sure that they do right by you. You understand what i am saying to you . Yes, sir. Now get out of my face. And get on down to the a and p. Yes, sir. [applause] are you having any fun yet . Are you inspired . [applause] one of dr. Martin luther kings favorite gospel singers, was the great miss jackson who performed at the march on washington. John lewis spoke that day. To remind him and all of us of that moment, we are pleased to present the community choir, featuring the great sharon scott. [singing] how i got over how i got over you know my soul look back and wonder how i got over how i got over oh lord i am mighty tired of all this falling and rising all these years you know my soul look back and wonder how did i make it over well, it is true soon as i can see jesus the man that died for me man that bled and suffered hung on the calvary i want to thank him for having brought me i want to thank him for have he taught me thank god he kept me hallelujah i want to thank the man who died for me the man that hung on calvary i want to thank god for supporting me thank him because he never left me thank god because he kept me hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah i thank you i thank you lord you never left me i thank you i thank you for how you brought me i thank you for how you taught me you have been my mother, you have been my father, you have been my doctor, you have been my teacher, you have been my friend, you never left me never left me oh lord my soul look back and wonder how i got how i got how i got over, yes yes yes yes [applause] yes. A true turning point in the history of civil rights journalism can be found in the work of ralph mcgill, editor of the atlantic constitution. By the time he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1959, he was widely recognized as the dean of progressive white newspaper editors in the south. In 1960, he hired gene patterson as editor. With mcgill taking the title of publisher, it was as if babe ruth had hired lou gehrig. In their columns, written every single day, they led the white south toward tolerance the best they could, even in the face of threats. It was helpful admiration for mcgill came from across the country. He knew that they would strengthen his position in the south and in atlanta, the place that would become known as the city and he realized that a small gestures would mean a lot. He became executive editor of the constitution and insisted that the word negro be spelled with a capital n, and unheard of practice. 20 years later, he returned home to be informed by his wife that the temple, the largest Jewish Synagogue in atlanta, has been bombed. He ran to the office and wrote an editorial that would earn him a pulitzer, it was titled, a church, a school. Dynamite in great quantities ripped a beautiful temple apart, a place of worship in atlanta. It followed the likes of a high school in tennessee. The same mad dog minds were without question behind both. They were also the source of previous bombings in south carolina, florida and alabama. The schoolhouse and the church are the target of diseased, hate filled minds. Let us face the facts. This is a harvest, the crops of things sown. It is not possible to preach lawlessness and restricted. Understood that when leadership in high places in any degree fails to support the constitutional authority, it opens it up for all of those who want to take the law into their hands. This is a harvest of those socalled christian ministers who have chosen to preach hate instead of compassion. Let them now find highest words and you do not preach and encourage and hope to restrict through the field. It is an old story repeated over and over again. For these ideals, the culmination of the Pulitzer Board awarding a prize for writing to ralph mcgill. [applause] the next decade saw a succession of editors getting pulitzers for editorials advancing civil rights. It shined a bright lhts on some of the most courageous editorialists from small newspapers. Here they are. 1963. Harkey with the chronicle. Meredith at the university of mississippi. Federal troops were called to protect meredith, who would be shocked during his march against fear. There were proposals to close the university, rather than integrate. Here is what harkey wrote. Anywhere else in the United States, the suggestion the university is closed down would not rise to a level of public discussion. Such a suggestion could not originate outside of a lunatic academy. In our state, leaders made us believe that we would not have to obey the same laws others have to. The leaders call out to let american gis in marshalls refer to terms in hate. It was previously only used for the people who ravaged belgium during the war. If we now let them convince us that it is proper to close ole miss, maybe we do not deserve any better event to be led by Grammar School intellects and attitudes left behind in history. It took physical and moral courage for harkey to take that stand. Segregationists boycotted the newspaper and someone fired a bullet through his store. His words lived on. Editorials in the lexington advertiser. In his editorials, sloan describes the nature of the decency and judges commended her for a steadfast adherence to editorial duty and the statement was not adequate for dedication. A sheriff shot a young black man. Pressure on smith began to mount. The financial situation was critical and they mortgaged their home. Still, smith continued attacks against the corrupt and, in an honored editorial, she put light on a terrible injustice. The deputy sheriffs action in arresting a negro for firebombing his own home has come as a shock to the people of the county and it is a disservice to the county and for all who encounter tension and strife. Whites and negro citizens could not believe that Something Like this could happen in our country and that a man, wife, they could come from sleep and be forced to leave their home in terror to be shot at by intruders outside and to have the head of the family jailed the same day for doing a dastardly deed by an officer who was sworn to protect all citizens. When she was given the 1964 ulitzer she p , described what she saw in her rule as an editor and said that all we have done here is try to look at the issues. We did not ask or run from a fight with the council and we have given it all we have, nearly 10 years of our lives and the loss of financial security. I would not call myself an editor, if i had gone along with the councils and felt the way that i do. My interest is the truth and protecting the freedom of all mississippians. It will continue. [applause] the poignancy of this journey and the impact on civil rights in our time is worth the minutes we give it. Join me now in 1965. It is about time this tradition made it to the sunshine state. The first recipient was harrison. Leaders tried to get a Building Code passed in gainesville and he had a devastating editorial that was a memo. Reading it is harris, the author of the book. A boy strained underneath the weight of the bucket he was carrying, bringing it more than two blocks from a fountain that was provided as a courtesy. 35 times a week, the child makes a trip and lives in a house along with other people. There are no screens, front doors and sunlight comes through the roof. The child and family share an outhouse and a backyard. The water went over the side with the concrete block into the house and the mayor gets a third to a fifth of the supply of water to drink and the family lives within the section of gainesville and they pay five dollars a week rent. Gainesville and that is the University City and the center of education and medicine. Tell us again that a minimum housing code is unnecessary and that the child who carries the Drinking Water down the road has a minimum code that is unnecessary, as happens when social justice journalism creates a call to action. For the editorials, harrison receives the pulitzer for editorial writing. If there was a Pulitzer Prize given to people who are rock and roll legends, i would have more than robert frost and eugene oneill. I still remember as a young man my excitement, listening to the heroes, the music was fun, energetic, and sexy. It also had spirit and soul. There was a time when racial segregation was being enforced and there was a thinlyfailed code of civil rights. When chuck berry saying about the brown eyed handsome man was not just brown eyed. He was brownskinned. For otis redding, it was a song about domestic desire and it was about what a person wants from the institutions. Aretha franklin transformed the song into a feminist hits. As a piano player, my hero was little richard. Thank you. The first record my mom bought was a 78. Has anybody owned a 78 . Tell the young. He sang keep a knockin it was a crazy and wild song. It would sound like pat boone. Keep knockin, but you cant come in. Come back tomorrow and tried again. It was a hymn to close doors and aspiration. The music changed you and i am ready for change. Are you ready for change . Are you ready for change . Get ready to be changed. I am a word man and i do not have the words to describe the next performer. Incandescent. Luminescent. Twisted steel, sex appeal, a tower of power that is too sweet to be sour, alex harris. Are you feeling all right . Are you ready for change . [singer performs a change is gonna come] did you like that . Gwendolyn brooks got the Pulitzer Prize and person so her centennial is also before us. Brooks was africanamerican and the first to win the prize. Youd be naive to ask why it took so long for this to happen. We all know why. Brooks would write more than 15 volumes of poetry. Brooks was the Jackie Robinson of Pulitzer Prizes, marching into history with the dodgers and we know a color line prevented black players in major leagues and it took many years before they inducted were the stars to the negro leagues. There are literary and journalistic requirements. Richard white, ralph ellison, just to mention some of the brightest stars. Do we accept the exclusion in the dark part of our history or is there something we can do about it . Other institutions share the mission to address issues in the history and there may be a way to reinvent special citations to create a category of people excluded from consideration because of race and gender. Consider this the lightest of nudges. To honor this moment, the wonderful September Penn the most famous poem is a short one. With a journalistic eye, it describes players at a bar. Why dont we recited here. It is on the screen. Repeat after me. [applause] st. Petersburg was the home of the times, one of the best newspapers. Did you know that it would be made real cool by september . Special moments on my lawn. Special moments all night long. The story of the pulitzer would not be complete without a reference to a special citation that was given to the newspapers for a project. The project generated 100 stories and one that endures comes from an africanamerican reporter named shirley scott, who worked for the times and the essay was about what is it like to be black. What is it like . Regardless of efforts, promotion comes slowly, if at all. Fellow workers are polite, perhaps friendly, but they are always at arms length and association will end at 5 00. You are stuck at the bottom of the ladder. Not because of what you do. Because you are a negro. If you are a woman, doors open to you that remain closed to your husband or your brother. Your children present a special problem. In addition to the healing, sometimes, early in lives, you must explain the taunt. Can you explain there is nothing wrong with being black . Will they believe you . You fight back the tears and the anger because you know there is no way to protect them and you pray that the strength will be transmitted to them. After a few years of reporting, shirley worked for the antipoverty agency and she ran for mayor in 1975 and lost, dying in 1977. We do not know to what extent she took pride in being the first africanamerican journalist to contribute to a project that wins a Pulitzer Prize. Let it be known that, at least for tonight, she is well remembered. [applause] the tradition of powerful africanamerican authors and journalists grew stronger as the century came to an end and it was highlighted by the achievement of alice walker, who wins for the color purple and Toni Morrison. While race and gender draw attention, these authors identified places where race and gender converged, rather than alienation and despair. Here is a piece of the manifesto that articulates a womanist prose. When did my mother have time to know about the creative spirit . The answer is simple and many have spent years discovering this. We have looked high and we should have looked high and low. Smithsonian in the institution in washington dc, there hangs a quilt unlike any other in the world. Fanciful, inspired, and figures were true the story of the crucifixion. It is considered rare, beyond price. It follows no known pattern of quilt making and even though it is made of bits of worthless pieces of rags, it is someone of deep spiritual feeling. Below the quilt, i saw of note that it was made by an anonymous black woman in alabama hundred years ago. Hmm, if we could locate this anonymous black woman from alabama, she would turn out to be one of our grandmothers, an artist who left her mark in the only materials she could afford, and the only medium her position in society allowed her to use. [applause] writing in that same tradition, Toni Morrison evokes the runaway slave and her Pulitzer Prizewinning novel, beloved. A mother contemplates the circumstances that led her to take the life of her own child. To read it, we are delighted to introduce poynter institutes former president , karen dunlap. [applause] karen dunlap beloved. She my daughter. She mine, you see . She come back to her on her own free will, and i dont have to explain a thing. I didnt have time to explain before, because it had to be done quick, quick. She had to be safe. And i put her where she would be. But my love was tough, and she back now. I knew she would be. I will explain to her, even though i dont have to, why i did it, how, if i hadnt killed her, she would have died, and that is something i cannot bear to have to happen to her. When i explain it, she will understand, because she understands everything already. I will tell her as no mother ever attended a child, a daughter. Nobody will ever get my milk no more except my own children. I never had to give it to nobody else. The one time i did, it was took from me. They held me down and took it. Milk that belong to my baby. Man had to nurse white baby and me too, because mama was in the right. Little white babys got what was left, or none. There was no nursing milk to call my own. I dont know what it is to be without the milk that belongs to you, to have to fight and holler, holler for it, and have so little left. I will tell beloved about that. She will understand. She is my daughter [applause] tom french good evening, my name is tom french. This pulitzer parade of africanamerican women became manifest in journalism as well. Authors such as wilkerson, who won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize. Working out of the Chicago Bureau of the New York Times, she wrote the astonishing profile of a 10yearold boy, nicholas whitaker, growing up with challenges no child should have to face. Here is a passage from that story, a passage that haunts me as a father when i first read it 23 years ago. The passage is called the rules. Diane . Diane sugg it is a great winters morning. Zero degrees outside, and School Starts for everybody in less than half an hour. The children line up, all scarves and coats and legs. The boys bow their heads so their mother, late for class herself, can brush their hair one at a time. There is a mad scramble for a lost mitten. Then she sprays them. She sprays an aerosol can and sprays their heads, their tiny, outstretched hands. She sprays them back in front to protect them as they go off to school, facing bullets and gang recruiters and a dangerous world. It is a special religious oil that smells like drugstore perfume, and the children shut their eyes tight as she sprays them, long and furious, so they will come back to her alive and safe at days end. These are the rules for angela whitakers children, recounted at the formicatopped dining room table. Dont stop off playing. When you hear shooting, dont stand around, run, nicholas said. why do i say run . their mother asked. because a bullet dont have no eyes, the two boys shouted. she pray for us every day, willy said. [applause] please welcome two great pulitzer winners, columnist Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post, and photojournalist Clarence William iii. [applause] Clarence William well, before there was me Eugene Robinson and before there was me Clarence William and before all Pulitzer Prizes were won by men like stephen henderson, before us, there was a truly great photojournalist named moneta sleet, jr. In 1969, he became the first africanamerican journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize as an individual. Here is the photograph. He died in 1996 at the age of 70. On his passing, the New York Times recalled his life in this obituary. Eugene robinson moneta sleet jr. Brought his camera to a revolution, showing inequality, died on monday at columbia presbyterian medical center. He was 70 and best known for his Pulitzer Prizewinning photograph of the funeral for the reverend Martin Luther jr. On the time he was sent to montgomery, alabama to cover the unlikely boycott led by young minister Martin Luther king to long after he captured what became the signature moment of dr. Kings moment in atlanta in 1968, he was gentle and ubiquitous, present in the struggle for the United States and a fixture at ceremonies and celebrations. Clarence william in a profession where practitioners are expected to bring detachment to their work, mr. Sleet saw no reason to apologize for his emotional involvement with those he photographed. i wasnt there as an objective reporter. I had something to say and was trying to show off one side of it. he didnt have any problem fighting the other side. In the era of civil rights marches, he talked about doubletime, saying he had walked 100 miles during the 50 mile march from selma to montgomery in 1965 because he kept walking back and forth along the march to take photographs. Although he was based in new york, he spent a good deal of his career on the road, photographing virtually every black head of state in africa, for instance, and crisscrossing the south with dr. King and other civil rights leaders. Known for his perpetual optimism, his everpresent smiles, and his knack for making others smile even when they didnt feel like it, mr. Sleet had such a gentle, engaging personality that he captivated civil rights leaders and other black celebrities he covered. It was not unusual for those he had covered to request or insist that mr. Sleet be assigned the next time they agreed to be interviewed. Clarence william in 1968 when Corrina Scott king learned that a small pool of photographers did not have a black photographer, she said there would be none. The photograph showing dr. Kings fiveyearold daughter bernice laying on her mothers lap and looking at the camera was considered such a powerful image and translated nationwide and won a Pulitzer Prize for journalism, the first by a black journalist. We celebrate his achievement with our applause. [applause] paul tash so it is 1967, and we have saved the most sentimental recollection until last. In the 1970s and 1980s, gene patterson helped turn the st. Petersburg times into one of the best newspapers, and when he died, mr. Poynters vision was turned into action of creating the school which now bears his name. He also spent a term as chair of the Pulitzer Prize board. For his reputation as a great editor and influential editorialist shaped in atlanta from 1956 to 1968, was the exact boundaries of the classic period of the Civil Rights Movement, lets think of gene patterson of being in the middle of things, the hub of a great wheel. He won his pulitzer for editorial writing for the columns he wrote in 1966. This year, 2016, is the 100th anniversary of the Pulitzer Prize. The year 1966 would have been the 50th anniversary of the prize, so smack dab in the middle. As editor of the atlanta constitution in 1960 to 1968, gene pattersons image and words were on the editorial pages during the most torturous years of the Civil Rights Movement in the south. With his mentor and best friend ralph mcgill, he used his platform to persuade his fellow white southerners that on matters of race, they were wrong. If they changed, the sky would not fall. I see what you are trying to do, one reader accused. Youre trying to make us think we are better than we are. [laughter] in an era of political assassinations and church bombings, southern editorial writers who challenged segregation needed courage. Patterson was advised not to worry about anonymous cowards that threatened him with hate mail. It is the ones you dont hear from that you have to worry about, he said. Pattersons equalizer was not a pistol but a hammer hidden in a desk drawer. He never had to wield it, but he kept open the drawer. His daughter remembered how she once found her father in a panic because the dog had been shot by strangers. I know who did this, daddy, mary told her father. People were angry about the things you are writing. The indomitable pup lived to the age of 16 even with a bullet lodged near her heart. He wrote an editorial every day from 1960 to 1968, 3200 in all. He wrote on saturdays and sundays, sometimes by hand in a fishing boat because he worried if he wrote to columns on thursday or friday, the second would lack the energy of the first. To me, writing was like shaving, patterson explains. If a man wants to look good, he gets up in the morning and shaves. That is what i do every day, shave the writing column. On september 16, 1963 gene was mowing the lawn when he learned four girls had been murdered in birmingham, alabama when a dynamite bomb went off in their church. He wrote his most famous column, his eyes brimming with tears. It bore the title of a flower for the graves. When this reached walter cronkite, he invited patterson to read it in full on the cbs evening news. Praise for his words came from all over the world. In calligraphy, the column hangs near the library of the poynter institute, the space named for gene. Next to it hangs four prints and four glass cubes with names, addie mae collins, Errol Robinson cynthia wesley, denise , mcnair. As the conclusion to tonights reflections, we bring forward again one of genes favorite people, howell raines, to read the famous column. Howell raines a negro mother wept in the street sunday morning in front of a Baptist Church in birmingham. In her hand, she held a shoe, one shoe from the foot of her dead child. We hold that shoe with her. Everyone of us in the white south holds that small shoe in his hand. It is too late to blame the sick criminals who handled the dynamite. The fbi and the police can deal with that kind. The charge against of them is simple. They killed four children. Only we can trace the truth, southerner, you and i. We broke those childrens bodies. We watched the stage set without staying it. We listened to the prologue unbestirred. We saw the curtain opening with disinterest. We have heard the play. We who go on electing politicians who heat the kettles of hate. We, who raise no hand to silence the mean and little men that have their nigger jokes. We, who stand aside in an imagined rectitude and let the mad dogs that run in every society slide their leashes from our hand and spring. We, the heirs of a proud south, who protest its worth and demand it recognition, we are the ones who have ducked the difficulty, skirted the uncomfortable, caviled at the challenge, resented the necessary, rationalized the unacceptable, and created the day surely when these children would die. This is no time to load our anguish on to the murderous scapegoat who set the cap in dynamite of our own manufacture. He didnt know any better. Somewhere in the dim and fevered recess of an evil mind, he feels right now that he has been a hero. He is only guilty of murder. He thinks he has pleased us. We of the white south who know better are the ones who must take a harsher judgment. We, who know better, created a climate for childkilling by those who dont. We hold that shoe in our hands, southerner. Let us see it straight and look at the blood on it. Let us compare it with the unworthy speeches of southern public men who have traduced the negro, match it with the spectacle of shrilling children whose parents and teachers turned them free to spit epithets at small huddles of negro schoolchildren for a week before this sunday in birmingham. Hold up the shoe and look beyond it to the statehouse in montgomery, where the official attitudes of alabama have been spoken in heat and and anger. [singing a spirtual in the backgroung] let us not lay the blame on some brutal fool who didnt know any better. We know better. We created the day. We bear the judgment. May god have mercy on the poor south that has been so led. May what has happened hasten the day when the good south, which does live and has great being, will rise to this challenge of racial understanding and common humanity, and in the full power of its unasserted courage, assert itself. The sunday school play at birmingham has ended. With a weeping negro mother, we stand in the bitter smoke and hold a shoe. If the south is ever to be what we wish it to be, we will plant a flower of nobler resolve for the south now upon those four small graves that we that we dug. [applause] [singing a spiritual] we are going to close with the singing of the most recognizable song, anthem from the civil rights era. Im going to invite bill shuster to come out and lead us. I would like to thank all of the presenters. [applause] i would like to thank all of the Pulitzer Prize winners. [applause] i would like to thank all of our friends from the Pulitzer Prize institute come down here from new york. I would like to thank all of the people from the Tampa Bay Times, but especially my great colleagues from the poynter institute. [applause] congressman lewis. [indiscernible] anybody else that would like to come up on stage and join us. We shall overcome we shall overcome we shall overcome someday deep in my heart, i do believe we shall overcome someday hand in hand together i do believe we shall overcome someday, we shall all be free we shall all be free we shall all be free we shall all be free someday deep in my heart i do believe we shall all be free someday we shall overcome we shall overcome come on, everybody we shall overcome someday deep in my heart i do believe we shall overcome someday we are not afraid we are not afraid no, not afraid deep in my heart, i do believe do you believe it . I do believe it we shall overcome let me hear you say it we shall overcome we shall we shall overcome overcome we shall overcome someday good night everybody. Good night, good night everybody. Thank you. [applause] one final bit of business. One final bit of business before we go. Roy has them working on this for the past year doing the research and the writing for this program and has done a phenomenal job. Roy, we love you, we appreciate what you did. Thank you so much. [applause] this little light of mine im gonna let it shine let it shine let it shine let it shine everywhere i go im gonna let it shine everywhere i go im gonna let it shine let it shine im gonna let it shine this little light of mine im gonna let it shine this little light of mine im gonna let it shine all in my hope im gonna let it shine let it shine let it shine let it shine this little light of mine im gonna let it shine this little light of mine im gonna let it shine this little light of mine im gonna let it shine let it shine let it shine let it shine [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org]
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