![]() Lomax had received a $15,000 Esso Foundation grant and was writing a three-volume work about black history at the time of his death. According to the Lowndes County Historical Society and Museum, the file "consists of letters, telegraphs, FBI inter-office memos, newspaper clippings copies of speeches and several sheets headed FBI Deleted Page Information Sheet." Death The Federal Bureau of Investigation maintained a file on Lomax containing over 150 pages. In 1968, he signed the " Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against U.S. Lomax was a supporter of several civil rights organizations, including the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Lomax also spoke frequently on college campuses. ![]() įrom 1964 to 1968, Lomax hosted a semi-weekly television program on KTTV in Los Angeles. In 1961, he was awarded the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for his book, The Reluctant African. His subjects included the Civil Rights Movement, the Nation of Islam, and the Black Panther Party. Lomax later became a freelance writer, and his articles were published in publications such as Harper's, Life, Pageant, The Nation, and The New Leader. The program was the first time most white people heard about the Nation and its leader, Elijah Muhammad, as well as its charismatic spokesman, Malcolm X. Lomax and Wallace produced a five-part documentary about the organization, The Hate That Hate Produced, which aired during the week of July 13, 1959. In 1959, Lomax told his colleague Mike Wallace about the Nation of Islam. In 1958, he became the first African-American television journalist when he joined WNTA-TV in New York. These two newspapers focused on news that interested African-American readers. Lomax began his journalism career at the Afro-American and the Chicago Defender. ![]() His first wife was Betty Frank (1958–1961), his second was Wanda Kay (1961–1967), and his third was Robinette Kirk (1968–1970). Despite reporting earned credentials throughout his career, Lomax never completed a degree after his two years at Paine. in 1944, as well as Howard University and Yale University, where he also claimed he had earned a Ph.D. He subsequently attended American University, claiming he was awarded an M.A. Lomax attended Paine College in Augusta, Georgia for two years, where he later claimed he was editor of the student newspaper and had graduated in 1942. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.Lomax was born in Valdosta, Georgia. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. ![]() The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Even in death, Lomax was an enigma.Īiello’s detailed, intense book honors Louis Lomax’s contributions to Black journalism, to the civil rights movement, and to the ideal of a democracy that practices “the art of deliberate disunity,” listening to, and valuing, a diversity of opinions.ĭisclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. Mystery surrounds Lomax’s death in a car crash on July 31, 1970, at the age of forty-seven. He was a study in contradictions, and not above embellishing a story, especially if doing so put him in the spotlight. The book’s lively and often disturbing narrative reveals that the pioneering journalist and syndicated radio and television host was also a convicted criminal and a serial liar with a record of domestic abuse, four divorces, and two DUI arrests. Martin Luther King, Jr., Lomax defied categorization. And while he favored non-violence, he made an exception for dealing with American white men, calling them “a racist, violent people…who only understand violence.”Ī staunch ally of both Malcolm X and the Rev. Quick to see both the faults and strengths in an argument, Lomax was able to pivot, and even dissemble when necessary, to gain his ends. Early exposure to the horrors and indignities of racism taught the Valdosta Baptist preacher’s grandson that cunning and guile could keep him alive and be used as weapons against racists. The book follows Lomax’s rise from a Depression-era childhood in Georgia, with its national reputation for white supremacist violence, to become one of the twentieth century’s most important Black journalists. ![]() Thomas Aiello’s The Life and Times of Louis Lomax is an incisive, engaging study of the out-of-the-box life and outspoken journalism of a man whose character and precedent-setting work mirrored the turbulence and dramatic change of 1960s America. ![]()
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