Ralph McGill (left) and Eugene Patterson (right)
A Sept. 16, 1963 column by Atlanta newspaper editor Eugene Patterson is still remembered as one of the finest responses to racial and religious hatred in history. Along with fellow Atlanta editor Ralph McGill, Patterson won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing and was effective in turning the media away from hostility and towards compassionate coverage of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 60s. The genius of their writing, the depth of their human feeling, as evident in this column, helped reach hearts that had been hardened by hate-spewing politicians. Its a good lesson for the 21st century.
A Negro mother wept in the street Sunday morning in front of a Baptist Church in Birmingham. In her hand she held a shoe, one shoe, from the foot of her dead child. We hold that shoe with her.
Every one of us in the white South holds that small shoe in his hand. Continue reading
