Joseph Lenoir Chambers (December 26, 1891January 10, 1970) was an American writer, biographer, historian, and Pulitzer prize-winning newspaper editor. He served in the

American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (A. E. F.) was a formation of the United States Army on the Western Front of World War I. The A. E. F. was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of General John J. Pershing. It fought along ...

, and briefly commanded a combat company, during World War I. In 1960, as editor of ''

The Virginian-Pilot ''The Virginian-Pilot'' is the daily newspaper for Norfolk, Virginia. Commonly known as ''The Pilot'', it is Virginia's largest daily. It serves the five cities of South Hampton Roads as well as several smaller towns across southeast Virgini ...

'' of Norfolk, Virginia (now owned by Tribune Publishing), he won the Pulitzer for Editorial Writing, for his series of editorials in favor of school

desegregation Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

, especially in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. A native of

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

, he was elected to the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame in 1991. Author Alex Liedholdt published a book on Chambers, ''Standing Before the Shouting Mob: Lenoir Chambers and Virginia's Massive Resistance to Public School Integration,'' in 2008.

Background and education

Joseph Lenoir Chambers was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on December 26, 1891, to father, Joseph Lenoir Chambers Sr., and mother Grace Singleton Dewey Chambers. He attended Woodberry Forest preparatory school, graduating in 1910. Chambers was a scholar who also played varsity sports and edited the campus newspaper, while attending the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

. He was a member of the

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

fraternity and received his A.B. in 1914. After graduation, he taught English at Woodberry for two years, until 1916, before enrolling at the

Columbia School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism sc ...

, in New York; he graduated in 1917. In 1960, he was awarded an honorary Legume Doctorate, from the University of North Carolina.

Military service

His first, brief job, in journalism, was with the '' New-Republic'' news service, in Washington, before leaving to enlist in the military, during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Chambers served as 1st lieutenant, with the 52nd Infantry of the 6th Division, United States Army, and later at Division Headquarters, in the

in France and Germany (1917–1919). He commanded a combat company in France, for a short time. He met Cornelia (Nell) Battle Lewis, while she was part of the canteen service with the American Expeditionary Force, (1918–1919), and they had a brief romance, however, not long after returning to the states, the relationship ended.

Career

On returning from his military service, Chambers served as the Director of the

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

of North Carolina news bureau, until 1921; the position made him responsible for keeping the state's newspapers informed of the activities of the university. He also served as a reporter, city editor, and then associate editor for the '' Greensboro Daily News'', in Greensboro, North Carolina. In 1929, he joined the Norfolk ''

Virginian-Pilot ''The Virginian-Pilot'' is the daily newspaper for Norfolk, Virginia. Commonly known as ''The Pilot'', it is Virginia's largest daily. It serves the five cities of South Hampton Roads as well as several smaller towns across southeast Virgini ...

'', as associate editor, under Louis Isaac Jaffe. He married, Roberta Burwell Strudwick, the papers society editor, in 1928. In 1944, Chambers became the editor of the papers afternoon edition, the Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch, and after the death of Louis Jaffe, he served as the editor of the ''Pilot'', a difficult promotion for Chambers, saying he always thought of his new office as belonging to Jaffe. However, Chambers continued in the progressive tradition of his former mentor, pushing for five-years, for Virginia to comply, and integrate the state's public schools after the 1954

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...

courts decision. James Lindsay Almond, governor, had closed the secondary schools a Massive resistance ploy, to avoid compliance. In 1960, Chambers won the

Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing The Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Journalism. It has been awarded since 1917 for distinguished editorial writing, the test of excellence being clearness of style ...

, for "'his series of editorials on the school integration problem in Virginia," as exemplified by " The Year Virginia Closed the Schools", published January 1, 1959, and "

The Year Virginia Opened the Schools ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

", published December 31, 1959. While working with the ''Pilot'', Chambers also wrote his book, ''Stonewall Jackson,'' a two-volume biography of the Civil War general, published in 1959. After his retirement in 1960, he authored ''Salt Water & Printer's Ink: Norfolk and Its Newspapers'' (1967), a history of the newspaper industry in Norfolk.

Civic Engagement

Chambers was a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the National Conference of Editorial Wriers. He continued to stay involved in historical and civic activities, after retirement. He was a Trustee of Woodberry Forest, Norfolk Academy and the Norfolk Public Library, and was a member of the Virginia Historical Society. From 1966 until 1969, he served on the Advisory Committee to establish the New Market Battlefield Historical Park.

Selected works

A collection of Chambers works and papers are held at the University of North Carolina, as part of The Southern Historical Collection at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library. A selection of his works are listed below. * ''The first year after war the war: being a recapitulation of the activities of the University of North Carolina during the year 1919'', Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press, 1920. * ''Stonewall Jackson,'' Volume I, W. Morrow, 1959. * ''Stonewall Jackson,'' Volume II, W. Morrow, 1959. * ''Seven days I to the last march'', Morrow, 1959. * ''Excellence in a democracy'', Golden Fleece, 1959. * ''The South and the nation: at the 167th commencement exercises of the University of North Carolina, Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill, June 5, 1961'', University of Chapel Hill, 1961. * ''Notes on life in occupied Norfolk, 1865'', Virginia Historical Society, 1965. * ''Salt water & printer's ink: Norfolk and it's newspapers, 1865-1965'', co-author with Joseph E. Shank, Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press, 1967. * ''History as an avocation'', Virginia Historical Society, 1968.

External links

NC Journalism Hall of Fame entry on Lenoir Chambers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chambers, Lenoir 1891 births 1970 deaths 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American male writers United States Army personnel of World War I American male journalists American male non-fiction writers Civil rights movement Journalists from North Carolina Journalists from Virginia Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing winners Writers from Charlotte, North Carolina Writers from Norfolk, Virginia 20th-century American male writers