John Seigenthaler has passed. He is a person you should know about.
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As a reporter for The Tennessean, Mr. Seigenthaler once saved a suicidal man's life on a bridge over the Cumberland River — a bridge eventually named after him. As the newspaper's longtime editor, he led coverage of the civil rights movement when most Southern newspapers, including the rival Nashville Banner, ignored the growing resistance to racial segregation in the South.
Mr. Seigenthaler also exposed corruption in the Teamsters union, grave deficiencies in the state's mental health system and illicit activities of the Ku Klux Klan in Tennessee. And he inspired several generations of journalists to greatness.
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Mr. Seigenthaler championed racial equality, both as a journalist and in his job in the Kennedy administration.
The Tennessean and its staff became crusaders for civil rights early on. A Texas liberal named Silliman Evans bought the newspaper out of receivership in the 1930s. His views formed the political core that would remain there until John Seigenthaler's retirement.
With a newsroom full of cocky young egos spoiling for a good story, secure finances and family owners willing to take chances, it became one of the only Southern newspapers to aggressively cover the fight to end segregation. That was not always popular with hometown readers, particularly the old Southern guard.
The Tennessean covered the downtown lunch counter sit-ins and other stories, when other newspapers wouldn't, as the civil rights movement swept through the South.
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Much more:
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2014/07/11/john-seigenthaler-dies/12529753/
This is the kind of newspaper editor we so badly need.
RIP John Seigenthaler.
You fought the good fight!
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