July 9, 2025
The Southern Courier dared to report on civil rights news in ways other publications would not.
The Southern Courier, a Montgomery newspaper launched during the Civil Rights Movement, will receive a historic marker.
The occasion aligns with another milestone for the publication, its 60th anniversary. The marker, placed at the Courier‘s former office, is a result of a years-long effort to recognize its place in the city’s and civil rights history.
The newspaper came into existence in 1965, founded by a group of journalism students from Harvard University. According to the Montgomery Advertiser, it documented the booming Civil Rights Movement across the southeastern United States. The newspaper recruited local writers to help cover injustice and the progress toward racial equality.
One of its young reporters, Viola Bradford, recalls how the newspaper shed light on the fight for justice that other publications had systematically ignored.
“We were doing stuff that no newspaper was doing,” explained Bradford, who joined the paper at 14 years old. “It was a courageous paper written by courageous people.”
The paper, unfortunately, did not have a long run. It only lasted for three years as it struggled to secure sustainable funding. However, its legacy remains as a fearless platform whose writers uncovered the racism at play during this turbulent time. For example, Bradford’s reporting on a firebombing of a young Black woman’s home revealed the crime stemmed from the student’s role in integrating a local high school.
The woman, Sophia Bracy Harris, commended the work of the Courier at an event last January. She recalled the newspaper reporting the truth, no matter the cost.
“Those are memories that I think are so important for our generation this day to recognize, it is not impossible for us to turn the clock back,” shared Harris. “I think the courage that was demonstrated by The Courier, reporters, and all who were supported in terms of the leaders who were courageous enough to work with them, it is the kind of thing that is so important for us to pass on and plant seeds.”
Bradford’s time with the Courier is evident in her current advocacy for revolutionary journalism. She has since founded the Sankofa Service, a nonprofit whose first event will be the marker’s dedication. The event will take place on July 26.
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