Reporter: Covering Civil Rights...and Wrongs in Dixie - Hardcover

Benn, Alvin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1420861859 ISBN 13: 9781420861853

Publisher: Authorhouse, 2006

Synopsis

When a United Press International executive asked Al Benn where he wanted to begin his journalism career, he unhesitatingly replied: "Where the action is." Little did he know at the time that he'd wind up reporting on America's civil rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama which was known as BOMBingham in the 1960s. Benn had no experience as a reporter in 1964, but he quickly learned by following and watching those who did. One night, he might be in a pasture covering a Ku Klux Klan rally where grand dragons and imperial wizards in white sheets delivered hate-filled speeches under the glow of burning crosses. The next night, he might be inside a black church where civil rights leaders called for peace and racial harmony. It was an exciting, often harrowing time for the rookie reporter-filled with deadline pressures, danger and the knowledge that he had become personally involved in covering developments of historic proportions. When he wasn't chronicling civil rights events, Benn wrote about scientists and astronauts involved in the space race as well as reaction on the home front to the war that raged in Vietnam. His favorite assignment was covering football at the University of Alabama where he got to know the Crimson Tide's head coach, Paul "Bear" Bryant, and reported the exploits of star quarterbacks such as Joe Namath and Ken Stabler. He also found time to write several exclusive stories. One involved secret payments to the widows of Alabama pilots killed during the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. Another centered on the national boycott of Beatles records--launched by two Birmingham radio personalities upset over a comment by John Lennon that his group was more popular than Jesus. Benn left UPI in 1967 to begin the newspaper phase of his journalism career. He worked in three states, becoming an editor and publisher, before landing his best job of all -covering rural Alabama for the Montgomery Advertiser in 1980. Benn has written about heroes a

About this title

About the Author

Alvin Benn was born in Lancaster, Pa.-the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country-on April 25, 1940. After graduating from Manheim Township High School in 1958, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served six years. He was stationed at Cherry Point, N.C. with the Second Marine Air Wing and on Okinawa where he worked for the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service. He completed military journalism school at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center and briefly attended East Carolina College while at Cherry Point. He has won numerous awards for writing, editing and photography during his long career. At the Natchez Democrat in Mississippi, where he was managing editor, Benn and his staff were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Benn is married to the former Sharon Ann Boumel of Silver Spring, Md. They have two children-Danielle Waters, a speech and language pathologist in Potomac Falls, Va. and Eric Benn-an investigator with the U.S. Department of Justice in El Paso, Texas. They have four grandchildren-Benjamin Waters and Scott Waters, both of Potomac Falls, Va. Alexandria MariCruz Benn and Ilan Benn live in El Paso, Texas with their mom and dad.

Edition details

• Publisher: Authorhouse
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1420861859
• ISBN 13: 9781420861853
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 408