Ralph McGill

Activist

Birthday February 5, 1898

Birth Sign Aquarius

Birthplace Tennessee

DEATH DATE Feb 3, 1969 (70)

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About

Editor of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper who was a leading public voice in the anti-segregation movement.

Before Fame

His career as a crusading journalist began after he was suspended by Vanderbilt University for an article he wrote criticizing the school.

Trivia

As the paper's editor-in-chief, and then its publisher, he used its editorial pages to urge readers to accept the equality of races and to end the separate-but-equal policy.

Family Life

He was born on a farming community near Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee just twenty miles north of Chattanooga.

Associated With

His brave editorial pieces brought him a Pulitzer prize in 1959, and both presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy enlisted his help in promoting civil rights.