VOICE TWO:
In Nineteen-Forty-Eight, Carl Rowan became a reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune newspaper in Minnesota. He was one of the first black reporters to write for a major daily newspaper.
As a young reporter, he covered racial tensions in the South during the civil rights movement. In Nineteen-Fifty-Six, he traveled to the Middle East to cover the war over the Suez Canal. He also reported from Europe, India and other parts of Asia. He won several major reporting awards.
VOICE ONE:
Mister Rowan’s reports on race relations in the South interested President John F. Kennedy. In Nineteen-Sixty-One, President Kennedy appointed Mister Rowan deputy assistant Secretary of State. He served as a delegate to the United Nations during the Cuban missile crisis in Nineteen-Sixty-Two. Mister Rowan later was appointed ambassador to Finland.
During his years in President Kennedy’s administration, Carl Rowan got to know Lyndon B. Johnson. Lyndon Johnson became president after President Kennedy was assassinated in Nineteen-Sixty-Three.
In Nineteen-Sixty-Four, President Johnson named Carl Rowan director of the United States Information Agency. The position made him the highest level African American in the United States government. Mister Rowan said being chosen to head the United States Information Agency and the Voice of America was one of the great honors of his life.
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VOICE TWO:
In Nineteen-Sixty-Five, Carl Rowan left the government and started writing for newspapers. He wrote a column that told his opinions about important social, economic and political issues. It appeared several times a week in a number of newspapers. Radio and television jobs followed.
Mister Rowan often wrote intensely about race relations. Yet, he wrote with more feeling about one subject than any other: that education and hard work will help young African Americans move forward.
Carl Rowan was angered by the ideas of some young blacks. He said they believed that to study hard and perform well in school was “acting white.” He deplored the idea that excellence is for whites only.
VOICE ONE:
In Nineteen-Eighty-Seven, Mister Rowan created a program called “Project Excellence.” The program rewards black students who do well in school. Over the years, the program has provided millions of dollars to help African American students get money for college.
VOICE ONE(cont):
Throughout his life, Carl Rowan was a strong voice for racial justice in America. Yet, he also demanded excellence from other black Americans. He wrote about wrongdoing within the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP fights for the civil rights of African Americans. Mister Rowan’s columns led to the resignation of its chairman and helped speed the organization’s financial recovery.
VOICE TWO:
Carl Rowan lived with his wife, Vivien Murphy, in a large house in Washington, D.C. They had three children and four grandchildren.
He had been a strong supporter of gun control laws. But in Nineteen-Eighty-Eight, he was charged for firing a gun that he did not legally own. He shot and wounded a teenager who was on his property illegally. Rowan was arrested and tried. During the trial, he argued that he had the right to use whatever means necessary to protect himself and his family.
The jury failed to reach a decision in the case.
In Nineteen-Ninety-One, Carl Rowan wrote a book about his life called “Breaking Barriers.” Several years later, he wrote a book called “The Coming Race War in America.” The book describes the exploding anger between blacks and whites and the possibility of a future race war. Some people praised the book. Others thought it was harmful and irresponsible.
VOICE ONE:
Carl Rowan was the first black president of an organization of top reporters in Washington called the Gridiron Club. The group does a show every year that makes fun of the American political process. Mister Rowan often performed by singing or leading a comedy act.
Carl Rowan used simple words when he spoke, yet he was very direct. He was criticized sometimes for that. Some people thought that his ideas were too liberal. Others thought he was too moderate. But most people thought his stories generally were very fair.
Mister Rowan talks about his life in his book, “Breaking Barriers”:
CUT 1 – CARL ROWAN ACT
VOICE TWO:
Carl Rowan died September Twenty-Third, Two-Thousand, in Washington, D.C. He was seventy-five years old. During the last years of his life, he suffered from diabetes and heart problems. But he never failed to write his newspaper column. He never let bad things slow him down.
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VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written by Cynthia Kirk. I’m Shirley Griffith.
