Lynchburg’s Newspapers in the Sixties

A white woman, any white woman, was referred to [in Lynchburg’s newspapers] as a Mrs. or Miss. No black woman was ever anything but plain Ann Smith. 1

Both Lynchburg’s morning paper, The News, and the evening paper, The Daily Advance, were owned by the Glass family, one of the city’s most prominent families. When Carter Glass II, son of Senator Carter Glass suddenly died, in 1955, Carter Glass III became general manager of both papers. The News and The Daily Advance consistently referred to Rev. Virgil Wood as a “local Negro agitator.” 2 In 1967, Carter Glass III was labeled as “a conservative-segregationist” by Newsweek Magazine. 3

 

Notes and Links:

1. An unnamed African American former city councilor quoted A City Unto Itself: Virginia in the 20th Century by Darrell Laurant, The News and Advance, 1997, p. 187
2.  Ibid, p. 191
3.  May 5, 1967 article in Newsweek, quoted in “A Page in Lynchburg’s Story: The Lynchburg Newspapers and Racial Strife in the Sixties” by William F. Quillian, Jr. Lynch’s Ferry: A Journal of Local History, Spring/Summer, 2004, p. 7 (Recommended)
Link: Senator Carter Glass