Lerone Bennett Jr. | |
|---|---|
 Bennett in his office atJohnson Publishing Company headquarters, 1973.Photo byJohn H. White. | |
| Born | (1928-10-17)October 17, 1928 Clarksdale, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | February 14, 2018(2018-02-14) (aged 89) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1949–2018 |
| Known for | Before the Mayflower (1962) Forced into Glory (2000) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
Lerone Bennett Jr. (October 17, 1928 – February 14, 2018) was anAfrican-Americanscholar, journalist, andsocial historian who analyzed race relations in the United States. His works includeBefore the Mayflower: A History of Black America, 1619-1962 (1962) andForced into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream (2000), a book about U.S. PresidentAbraham Lincoln.
Born and raised inMississippi, Bennett graduated fromMorehouse College. He served in theKorean War and began a career in journalism at theAtlanta Daily World before being recruited byJohnson Publishing Company to work forJET magazine. Later, Bennett was the long-time executive editor ofEbony magazine. He was associated with the publication for more than 50 years.
Bennett was born inClarksdale, Mississippi, on October 17, 1928, the son of Lerone Bennett Sr. and Alma Reed. When he was young, his family moved toJackson, Mississippi. His father worked as a chauffeur and his mother was a maid; they divorced when he was a child. At twelve, he began writing forThe Mississippi Enterprise, a local Black-owned paper, where he was introduced to the power of media in shaping public opinion on racial issues. His early work here would later influence his career as a journalist and historian.
He recalled once getting in trouble for being distracted from an errand when he happened upon a newspaper to read. He attended segregated schools as a child under the state system, and graduated fromLanier High School.[1] Bennett attendedMorehouse College inAtlanta, Georgia, where he was classmates withMartin Luther King Jr. Bennett later recalled that this period was integral to his intellectual development.
Bennett served as a soldier during theKorean War and later pursued graduate studies. He worked as a journalist for theAtlanta Daily World from 1949 until 1953 and as city editor forJET magazine from 1952 to 1953.[2] The magazine had been established in 1945 byJohn H. Johnson, who founded its parent magazine,Ebony, that same year. In 1953, Bennett became associate editor ofEbony magazine and then executive editor from 1958. The magazine served as his platform for the publication of a series of articles on African-American history some of which were collected and published as books.
Bennett wrote a 1954 article "Thomas Jefferson's Negro Grandchildren,"[3] reporting on the 20th-century lives of individuals claiming descent fromJefferson and his slaveSally Hemings. Bennett's article challenged conventional beliefs about Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with Sally Hemings, bringing attention to African-American oral histories that had been largely overlooked. By exploring these claims, Bennett contributed to a deeper, more nuanced understanding of American history. Thisrelationship was long denied by Jefferson's daughter and two of her children, and mainline historians relied on their account. But Bennett’s reporting brought relevant Black oral histories into public view. New works published in the 1970s and 1990s further challenged the conventional story. Since a 1998DNA study demonstrated a match between anEston Hemings descendant and the Jefferson male line, the historic consensus has shifted (including the position of theThomas Jefferson Foundation atMonticello) to acknowledging that Jefferson likely had a 38-year relationship with Hemings and fathered all six of her children of record, four of whom survived to adulthood.[4][5]
| External videos | |
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 Booknotes interview with Bennett onForced Into Glory, September 10, 2000,C-SPAN | |
| Panel discussion onForced Into Glory, September 24, 2000,C-SPAN |
Bennett served as a visiting professor of history atNorthwestern University.[6] He authored several books, including multiple histories of the African-American experience. These include his first work,Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America, 1619–1962 (1962), which discusses the contributions of African Americans in the United States from its earliest years. His 2000 book,Forced into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream, questionsAbraham Lincoln's role as the "Great Emancipator". This last work was described by one reviewer as a "flawed mirror", and it was criticized by historians of the Civil War period, such asJames McPherson andEric Foner.[7] Bennett is credited with the phrase: "Image Sees, Image Feels, Image Acts," meaning the images that people see influence how they feel, and ultimately how they act.[citation needed]
A longtime resident ofKenwood, Chicago, Bennett died of natural causes at his home there on February 14, 2018, at age 89.[6]
ACatholic, Bennett married Gloria Sylvester (1930–2009) on July 21, 1956, at St. Columbanus Church in Chicago.[8] They met while working together atJET. The couple had four children: Alma Joy, Constance, Courtney, and Lerone III (1960–2013).[9]
