Hazel Brannon Smith
Encyclopedia
Cleveland, Tennessee
Cleveland is a city in Bradley County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 41,285 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Bradley County...
), the owner and editor of four weekly newspapers in rural Mississippi, was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing.
A life-long Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
, she described herself as "just a little editor in a little spot. A lot of other little editors in a lot of little spots is what helps make this country. It's either going to help protect that freedom that we have, or else it's going to let that freedom slip away by default."
In 1930, she graduated from high school in Gadsen, Alabama at the age of 16. Graduating from the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
in 1935 with a B.A. in Journalism, she went to Durant, Mississippi
Durant, Mississippi
Durant is a city in Holmes County, Mississippi, United States. It was founded in 1858 as a station on the Mississippi Central Railroad, later part of the Illinois Central. Durant was named for Louis Durant, a Choctaw chief, who had lived on a bluff just across the nearby Big Black River...
and bought the failing Durant News, making it such a success by 1943 that she purchased the Lexington Advertiser in the neighboring town of Lexington, Mississippi
Lexington, Mississippi
Lexington is a city in Holmes County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 2,025 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Holmes County.-Geography:Lexington is located at ....
. She edited and published the Lexington Advertiser from 1943 to 1983. In 1956, she acquired the Banner County Outlook (Flora, Mississippi) in 1956 and the Northside Reporter (Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
) in 1956.
Pulitzer Prize
Smith's editorials and her column ("Through Hazel's Eyes") focused on unpopular causes, political corruption and social injustice in Mississippi. Her opposition to the White Citizens' CouncilWhite Citizens' Council
The White Citizens' Council was an American white supremacist organization formed on July 11, 1954. After 1956, it was known as the Citizens' Councils of America...
brought her the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1964 for her "steadfast adherence to her editorial duty in the face of great pressure and opposition."
She also received awards from the National Federation of Press Women
National Federation of Press Women
The National Federation of Press Women, , founded in 1937, is a US-based organization for men and women in electronic, broadcast and print journalism....
(1946, 1955), the Herrick Award for Editorial Writing (1956), the Mississippi Press Association (1957). She was president of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors in 1981-82. She died in Cleveland, Tennessee
Cleveland, Tennessee
Cleveland is a city in Bradley County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 41,285 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Bradley County...
on May 15, 1994.