The Southern Courier Archives

The Southern Courier was a Civil Rights newspaper founded in 1965 in Montgomery, Alabama, by a handful of graduates from the Harvard School of Law. It was funded by the Ford Foundation with the goal of accurately reporting news which was not being reported accurately, or at all, by the mainstream presses in Alabama. The paper ran until 1968 at which time Martin Luther King, Jr., submitted an article for the front page. Although this paper existed for only a few years, it played an important role in the Civil Rights Movement. The articles were scrupulously researched. Not only was the paper accurate, but it helped to inspire those working to peacefully bring about integration. On this page, articles from the paper will be featured, along with commentary by Joan Clark Tornow who served as the Birmingham, Alabama, reporter from January 1967 through March 1967.

The Southern Courier staff and reporters met in Montgomery, Alabama, for a reunion in April, 2006. This was their first reunion -- some 40 years after the newspaper had been discontinued. We had a great time catching up on each other's current lives, and sharing memories of our tumultuous time together in the 60s. We reaffirmed our lifetime commitment to advancing civil rights.

At one round-table discussion, in which we recalled and discussed our reporting in the 60s, I was invited to deliver a speech called, "Memory's Jagged Edge: Reflections on Birmingham, 1967." This was essentially a sermon I had given in August 2005, at the Saltwater Unitarian Church in Des Moines, Washington. In Unitarian Churches, it is customary for several members of the congregation to write and deliver sermons during the summer months when Unitarian ministers typically take time off for personal renewal and study. Because my experience as a reporter for the Southern Courier had been life-changing, I chose to write my sermon about that. Read Memory's Jagged Edge.