The Pulitzers gave a special citation on Monday to the late Chuck Stone, a pioneering columnist in Philadelphia, and a founder and first president of the National Association of Black Journalists.
The announcement was part of the reveal of the list of 2025 winners of the Pulitzer Prizes.
In a press release, the Pulitzer Board said it wanted to honor Stone “for his groundbreaking work as a journalist covering the Civil Rights Movement, his pioneering role as the first Black columnist at the Philadelphia Daily News–later syndicated to nearly 100 publications– and for co-founding the National Association of Black Journalists 50 years ago.”
Stone’s life tracks like a movie script: Tuskegee Airman, friend of Martin Luther King Jr., and aid worker in South Africa, Egypt, and India. As a journalist, he excelled at a time when it was nearly impossible for Black journalists to do so. He was the first Black host for the PBS show “Black Perspectives in News,” was editor and columnist with the Philadelphia Daily News and editor-in-chief of the Chicago Defender.
“Chuck Stone is a legend whose spirit still envelops NABJ to this very day,” NABJ President Ken Lemon, a reporter at WSOC-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina, said by telephone. “It’s hard to talk about the founding of this organization without talking about Chuck’s influence.”
Lemon continued, “Even as we do our documentary, ‘Behind the Headlines,’ you’ll see that he is prominently featured there because his passion was a driving force behind the founding of NABJ.”
Stone had a vision about unifying Black journalists, who were making inroads in American newsrooms but not being treated in a way equal to their worth, Joe Davidson, a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists and a Washington Post columnist, told Black News & Views.
“Chuck was the giant among the founders,” Davidson wrote in an email. “I recall him saying something like ‘Black doctors are organized. Black lawyers are organized. Black journalists should be organized.’ “
Davidson continued, “Fellow founder Les Payne called Chuck the founder with the clipboard. There had been previous attempts to organize Black journalists, but his organizing skills made NABJ stick. He was president of the Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia before becoming NABJ’s first president. I remember a meeting with the Philly group where he laid out plans for NABJ. Chuck was the chief organizer. He also was controversial among the founders and his Philly colleagues.”
Davidson added, “Despite the controversies, Chuck also was a giant in the industry and the community, in part because of the number of suspects who turned themselves into him rather than the police. It’s hard to imagine NABJ without him. The honor is well deserved.”
Author and journalist Wayne Dawkins, NABJ historian, said the recognition of Charles Sumner “Chuck” stone was a “wise choice” on the part of the Pulitzer board.
“Stone was a simultaneous journalism warrior, peacemaker, and bottom-line iconic leader,” Dawkins wrote in an email to Black News & Views Monday night.
In December 1975 he was founding president of the National Association of Black Journalists, a mighty feat in organizing the last and most difficult cohort of Black workers, journalists, who were unlicensed professionals,” Dawkins said.
“Furthermore, Stone famously escorted scores of crime suspects that surrendered to him so he could escort them to police with guarantees they would not be harmed,” Dawkins said. “Stone, a lyrical, even comedic writer for the tabloid Philadelphia Daily News – affectionately known as “the People Paper” – was in synch with the city of music, sports, and blue-collar pride.”
Among the members of the Pulitzer Board, who selected the winners, are: Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Jelani Cobb, dean, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University, Kevin Merida, contributing columnist, The Washington Post, and Ginger Thompson, managing editor, ProPublica.
