Hazel Brannon Smith

Hazel Brannon Smith (1914-1994), a journalist and publisher, owned and edited four weekly newspapers, including the Lexington Advertiser. An advocate for racial justice, she condemned the state's Sovereignty Commission and the Citizen's Council. As a result, she was ostracized by the White community and her newspapers were boycotted, eventually forcing her to declare bankruptcy. In 1964, she received the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for her reporting on race.

Lexington, Mississippi · United States