William A. Emerson, Jr
| William A. Emerson, Jr | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1923 |
| Died | 2009 |
| Nativity | United States |
| Religion | Protestant |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| ASN | 34825456 |
| Rank | Sergeant |
| Camp Ritchie | Class 20 (19 June – 16 August 1944) |
| Section | 6A |
| Enlisted | Ft Mcpherson Atlanta, Georgia |
{{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.
William Austin "Bill" Emerson Jr. (February 28, 1923 – August 25, 2009) was an American journalist who covered the Civil Rights Movement as Newsweek's first bureau chief assigned to cover the Southern United States and was later editor in chief of The Saturday Evening Post.
Biography edit
William Austin "Bill" Emerson Jr. (February 28, 1923 – August 25, 2009) was an American journalist who covered the Civil Rights Movement as Newsweek's first bureau chief assigned to cover the Southern United States and was later editor in chief of The Saturday Evening Post.
Emerson enlisted in the United States Army and trained, in part, at Camp Ritchie among the Ritchie Boys. In War time, he served in the China Burma India Theater of World War II.
In 1953, the year before the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Emerson was named by Newsweek as its first bureau chief responsible for covering the South. In that role, Emerson witnessed the "years of resistance and violence" that ensued following the end of segregation in public schools and the start of the fight for civil rights for African Americans. In that role, Emerson covered school integration battles across the South, including in such cities as New Orleans and Memphis, Tennessee, and provided his direct observations of a woman trying to take her child to school and encountering a crowd spitting and yelling at them. He wrote about Ku Klux Klan cross burnings in Florida and followed the Montgomery bus boycott that began in 1955 with the ascension of Martin Luther King Jr. As a leader in the movement. A few months later, he reworked the magazine's issue covering the John F. Kennedy assassination to include recollections by his predecessor Dwight D. Eisenhower and by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., with a cover portrait of Kennedy by Norman Rockwell, all completed to publish the issue on time. As part of the New Journalism of the 1960s, Emerson had articles from such non-traditional authors as James Meredith, who wrote about his experiences as the first African American student at the University of Mississippi. In a meeting with employees after the magazine's closure had been announced, Emerson thanked the staff for their professional work and promised "to stay here and see that everyone finds a job". At a March 1969 postmortem on the magazine's closing, Emerson stated that The Post "was a damn good vehicle for advertising" with competitive renewal rates and readership reports and expressed what The New York Times called "understandable bitterness" in wishing "that all the one-eyed critics will lose their other eye".
Emerson later joined the faculty of the University of South Carolina, where he taught journalism.
Research notes edit
- Also Class 20 JapOB
- OB 489T
Gallery edit
After you are autoconfirmed, upload a photo and add [[File:Example.jpg|thumb|caption]] here, or set |photo=Example.jpg in the infobox.
Technical record edit
| Field | Imported value |
|---|---|
| Approx Age at Death | 86 |
| Nara ASN | 34825456 |
| Nara Name | EMERSON WILLIAM A JR |
| Nara State | 43 |
| Nara County | 121 |
| Nara POE | 4344 |
| Nara DOE | 170743 |
| Nara Grade Alpha | PVT |
| Nara Grade Code | 8 |
| Nara Branch Alpha | NO |
| Nara Branch Code | 2 |
| Branch | No branch assignment |
| Nara Term or Enlistment | 5 |
| Term of enlistment | Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law |
| Defer. Date | 0 |
| Nara Source | 0 |
| Nara Nativity | 46 |
| Nativity.1 | NORTH CAROLINA |
| Nara Year of Birth | 23 |
| Nara Race | 1 |
| Nara Race Description | White citizen |
| Nara Education | 6 |
| Nara Civilian Occupation | 787 |
| Nara Marital Status | 6 |
| Nara Height (inches) | 0 |
| Nara Weight (lbs) | 0 |
| Class_ASN | 34825456 |
| Class_Name | EMERSON, William |
| match_method | asn_exact_name_exact |
| row_source | both |
Sources edit
- Wikipedia: William Emerson (journalist)
- Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
- Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
- NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
- 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)