Oral history interview with Calvin Jacox, 1971
Oral history interview with Calvin Jacox, 1971
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- Name
- Jacox, Calvin (Interviewee)
- La Brie, Henry G (Interviewer)
- Title
- Oral history interview with Calvin Jacox, 1971
- Other Titles
- Reminiscences of Calvin Jacox : oral history, 1971; Oral history of Calvin Jacox, 1971
- Abstract
- Jacox briefly discusses: his education; his training in carpentry; his decision to pursue a career in journalism; his early interest in sports and introduction to black newspapers. Jacox traces the successes of the black press and re-imagines the present without the influence of black newspapers. He also discusses the growing problems of the black press at the time of the interview, including recur ring personnel shortages, a lack of funding, increasing competition with the white press and daily papers, a loss of readership to television programs, the limits of family-run papers, common misperceptions of black papers, and a reluctance and/or inability to modernize. Still, Jacox also emphasizes the enduring successes of the black press and the continued need for ethnic newspapers.
- Collection Name
- Black Journalists oral history collection
- Subjects
- Journalists; African American press; African American journalists; African American sportswriters; Newspaper publishing--Economic aspects--United States; African Americans--Civil rights; Family-owned business enterprises; Norfolk (Va.); United States Race relations; Jacox, Calvin
- Format
- oral histories
- Genre
- Interviews
- Date
- 1971
- Physical Description
- sound files : digital preservation master, WAV files (96kHz, 24 bit); 32 pages
- Note (Biographical)
- Calvin Jacox was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on September 12, 1923. He attended Booker T. Washington High School and the Norfolk division of Virginia State College (now Norfolk State University) before earning a degree in Journalism from Lincoln Univer sity in Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1948. He took a job as a reporter at the Norfolk Journal and Guide and returned to his hometown. In the years following, Jacox was promoted to the position of sports editor at the paper and became the voice of sports for the black community in the region. He covered a variety of teams and athletes at the amateur, collegiate, and professional levels across the region and nation. Jacox used his position to fight against discrimination and rally for the breakdown of racial barriers within the athletic world as well as within larger social and political spheres. Jacox wrote for the Journal and Guide for 25 years. In 1973, Jacox took a position as a public information officer at his alma mater, the historically black Norfolk State University, where he served for 15 years, until his death in 1988.
- Note
- Interviewed by Henry G. La Brie III on July 7, 1971.
- Note (Provenance)
- Henry G. La Brie III Gift, 1975
- Language
- English
- Library Location
- Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University
Browse Location’s Digital Content - Catalog Record
- 11563772
- Also In
- Time-Based Media
- Persistent URL
- https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-96h5-3b25
- Related URLs
- Available digital content for this interview.