Ted Poston
*Ted Poston was born on this date in 1906. He was a Black journalist.
Born Theodore Roosevelt Poston in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, he graduated from Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial College in 1928 with a journalism degree. Poston moved to New York; worked for the newspaper the New York Contender. In 1931, he wrote a column, "Harlem Shadows," for Pittsburgh Courier. The Amsterdam News also hired Poston, becoming their city editor by 1935. He actively founded the Newspaper Guild and was fired for leading a strike. Poston then joined the staff of the Federal Writers' Project.
In 1936 he began writing freelance articles for New York Post; and was soon hired full-time, a first for a black reporter. In 1940 became a member of the "Black Cabinet," an informal network of African Americans serving or advising the Roosevelt administration; as head of Negro News Desk in the Office of War Information Poston was responsible for relations with Negro press. He returned to Post in late 1945, remaining until his retirement in 1972. During this time, he wrote a series of articles on the "Little Scottsboro" case (1949) and won the George Polk Award for national reporting. He also covered the Montgomery Bus Boycott, racial discrimination in New York City, the integration of Central High in Little Rock, and the trial of Medgar Evers' assassination.
Ted Poston died in New York City on January 11, 1974. The Dark Side of Hopkinsville, a book of his short stories, was published posthumously in 1991.
Kathleen A. Hauke Ted Poston:
Pioneer American Journalist.
Athens: U of Georgia P, 1998.
