Bill Text: MS SC689 | 2017 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Mourn the passing of veteran Journalist Bill Minor and recognize his contributions to Mississippi history.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-4)
Status: (Passed) 2017-04-05 - Enrolled Bill Signed [SC689 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2017-SC689-Enrolled.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2017 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Senator(s) Frazier, Norwood, Blount, Horhn, Barnett, Browning, Dearing, Fillingane, Jackson (32nd), Michel, Seymour, Stone, Wilemon
Senate Concurrent Resolution 689
(As Adopted by Senate and House)
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION MOURNING THE PASSING OF VETERAN JOURNALIST BILL MINOR AND RECOGNIZING HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO MISSISSIPPI HISTORY AND TO THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS.
WHEREAS, veteran Journalist Bill Minor made his last deadline on Tuesday, March 28, 2017. Known as "the conscience of Mississippi", the 93-year-old Minor outlived nearly all of his contemporaries as well as a number of the Journalists he mentored; and
WHEREAS, Syndicated Columnist and Capitol Correspondent Bill Minor had covered Mississippi politics since 1947. He was an eyewitness to Mississippi's Civil Rights history and the formation of the Mississippi Republican Party; and
WHEREAS, Bill Minor followed Mississippi political and social life for more than 62 years. He put himself in harm's way many times to witness firsthand and report in vivid and clear words the truth, regardless of the consequences to himself. Until his death, Minor still lived in Jackson, Mississippi, and wrote many columns concerning major news stories and issues; and
WHEREAS, Bill Minor was born in Hammond, Louisiana. He grew up in Southeast Louisiana and graduated from Tulane University in 1943 with a degree in Journalism. Following World War II, this naval combat veteran joined the staff of The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. In August 1947, he was assigned as the newspaper's Mississippi correspondent in Jackson, Mississippi. Covering the Civil Rights era and a wide variety of other major news stories, Minor held this position for 30 years and ended only when The Times-Picayune closed the Mississippi office. He retired from the paper in 1976. After his retirement he remained in Jackson and launched a new career as a statewide political columnist; and
WHEREAS, "My own situation in those Civil Rights decades was a unique one," Minor explained in a recent article. "I was something of a war correspondent behind enemy lines covering the battle of blacks to achieve first-class citizenship." Black protest in the South and the frequently violent white response transfixed the nation. Newsweek, AP and The New York Times used Minor as a Stringer, and he contributed features to the New Republic, The Herald Tribune, and other prominent publications. The reporter filed an enormous number of stories. Just for The Times-Picayune alone, Minor estimated he wrote an average of three news stories a day, over 1,000 a year. The Sunday Times-Picayune published Eyes on Mississippi, an op-ed style column that allowed Minor to express his own views; and
WHEREAS, some of the most horrific events of the Civil Rights Movement occurred in Mississippi, drawing news people from across the nation. A standing-room-only crowd packed the courthouse for the Emmett Till trial, and it did again on March 21, 2015, this time to honor the Emmett Till family. Journalist Bill Minor, who covered the trial, marveled at the restoration of the courtroom. Minor pointed to the room where the jury considered the fate of J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant. He recalled hearing laughter from the room during deliberations; and
WHEREAS, the 1960s were a time of challenge, stress and glory for Minor. Minor's colleagues in the national press recall their admiration for his work. Minor, as a Stringer for the national media, contributed to numerous widely read stories about events in his home state. In 1963, former Governor J.P. Coleman gave the reporter transcripts of secret telephone negotiations between U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Governor Ross Barnett over James Meredith's admission to the University of Mississippi; and
WHEREAS, Minor was most proud of a story he uncovered for the Picayune in 1961, seven years after the Supreme Court declared school segregation unconstitutional and three years before the integration of any public grade school or high school in Mississippi. A contact at the State Department of Education gave the reporter a secret, state-sponsored report of local expenditures by race of every school district in the state. Bill Minor's statistics were used by Congress in their arguments for passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act; and
WHEREAS, Bill Minor's novel, Eyes on Mississippi: A Fifty-Year Chronicle of Change, is fascinating to everyone interested in 20th Century American History. Minor used some 200 of his columns and news articles in this novel. This novel reminds the reader of all the progress we have made in Mississippi and how much more there is left to do. It chronicles changes in race relations, from the increase in black voter registration to the unraveling of the Sovereignty Commission; and
WHEREAS, Minor has won many awards. In 1966, the Louis Lyons Award given by the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University was given to him for "conscience and integrity in journalism." In 1997 Minor became the first recipient of the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism presented by the Annenberg School for Communications of Pennsylvania, and in 1991 he joined the Hall of Fame for the Mississippi Press Association; and
WHEREAS, what distinguished Bill Minor from the scores and scores of reporters who came in to cover big stories on Mississippi, stories on which they built their reputations, is that Bill loved Mississippi, even as he was its fiercest critic. It was all about making Mississippi better. The members of the Capitol Press Corps are vital parts of the legislative process by the timely reporting of the daily actions of the House and Senate to the public in order for public input into the deliberative process. Bill Minor served as a leader and mentor in the Capitol Press Corps. His legacy of historical reporting and remarkable intellect have enriched the reporting skills of his students and colleagues. Bill Minor was truly one of a kind:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby mourn the passing of veteran Journalist Bill Minor and recognize his contributions to Mississippi history, and extend the condolences of the Mississippi Legislature to Bill's surviving family.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to the bereaved family of Bill Minor, forwarded to the Editorial Board of The Clarion-Ledger, and made available to the Capitol Press Corps.
