Luix Virgil Overbea (died July 10, 2010) was an American journalist who was one of the founding members of the

National Association of Black Journalists The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is an organization of African-American journalists, students, and media professionals. Founded in 1975 in Washington, D.C., by 44 journalists, the NABJ's stated purpose is to provide quality p ...

Biography

Luix Overbea was a native of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

; and received a bachelor's degree in philosophy in journalism from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. He moved to North Carolina to work for the ''Winston-Salem Journal'' from 1955 to 1968, where he was the only Black reporter. He did not want to be confined to just covering "black news" and covered everything from professional and social events to sports; during that period however, white townspeople were insulted when he would show up to cover things like aldermen's meetings, and let him know. Overbea was one of the first people to interview the young

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senator ...

in 1964 as Jackson lead lunch counter sit-ins at

North Carolina A&T University North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public, historically black land-grant research university in Greensboro, North Caro ...

. In the 1960s he worked as editor of the Black-owned ''

St. Louis Sentinel The ''St. Louis Sentinel'' is an African-American-oriented weekly newspaper, founded in 1968 by Howard B. Woods in St. Louis, Missouri. After Woods's death in 1976, his wife Jane Woods took over as publisher.JoAnn Adams Smith, ''Selected Neighbor ...

'' and then for the ''

Globe-Democrat The ''St. Louis Globe-Democrat'' was originally a daily print newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1852 until 1986. When the trademark registration on the name expired, it was then used as an unrelated free historically themed paper. Orig ...

''. Overbea went to work for the '' Christian Science Monitor'' in 1971, where he stayed for 21 years. In his role at the ''Monitor'' he served as a writer and TV show host for the ''Monitors'' TV channel, a newspaper reporter, and was the vice president for community relations for the ''Monitors'' broadcast operations. He was noted for his coverage of the Boston school desegregation in the 1970s. He was also a contributor to the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', the '' Bay State Banner'', and other papers. Overbea worked to help other Black journalists find their way in the business. He was one of the founders of the

. and in 1993 received a Lifetime Achievement Award from that organization. Overbea retired in 1992. He died on July 10, 2010 in Boston at 87 years old. Upon his death, NABJ President Kathy Y. Times said that "without leaders like Luix Overbea there would be no NABJ. He truly paved the way for many black journalists to follow in his footsteps."

Personal life

Overbea was married to Elexie (Culp) Overbea and had one daughter, named Adgirene.Luix Virgil Overbea Obituary (2010)
legacy.com. He was noted for his sense of humor, and for being "free of bitterness" from the discrimination faced early in his career. In addition to his journalism work, Overbea was an artist and poet. His poem "Hometown" was engraved on a monument at the Roxbury Crossing Boston Orange line train stop.

Selected works

*
Poets on the horizon : a collection of poetry
' (1988)

References

External links

C-SPAN appearances

Black Perspectives; Blacks in the Media. - Interview with Overbea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Overbea, Luix Virgil 2010 deaths Journalists from Illinois People from Chicago Journalists from Massachusetts Poets from Massachusetts Poets from Illinois Artists from Massachusetts African-American artists African-American journalists African-American poets The Christian Science Monitor people The Boston Globe people Northwestern University alumni 21st-century African-American people