The Roanoke Tribune, which was founded in Gainsboro in 1939, is one of the longest-running African American newspapers in the nation. The Tribune has a respected history of printing news by, for, and of the Black community, which it continues to uphold today.
Rev. Fleming E. Alexander, Founder
The newspaper’s founder, Rev. Fleming E. Alexander, was a Baptist minister who served churches in several cities before starting the Roanoke Tribune in 1939. Rev. Alexander wrote frequently about his views on segregation in the mid-1950, including editorials in the Tribune calling for a moderate and gradual integration. However, some ministers in the Roanoke area did not like Alexander’s conservative stance on integration, leading to his censure by the Baptist Ministers Conference. Rev. Alexander filed a defamation lawsuit against their censure that never went to court; instead, those who spoke out apologized to him.
Claudia A. Whitworth, Editor and Publisher
Rev. Alexander passed away in 1980, but his legacy lives on through the paper and his daughter, Claudia Whitworth. Ms. Whitworth has worked at the Tribune since 1945 and bought the paper from her father in 1971, after he retired following an injury in an automobile accident. Currently, Ms. Whitworth is the editor and publisher of the Tribune, and her son Stanley Hale is the assistant editor.
As editor, Ms. Whitworth prefers not to print crime, tragedy, or scandal in the Roanoke Tribune. Her paper seeks to uplift readers’ self-esteem and promote respect for others, as it has done for decades.
In 1983, without Ms. Whitworth’s prior knowledge or consent, she discovered her former office being razed on Henry Street, a casualty of urban renewal. She was able to salvage one typesetter and managed to print the news on schedule the following week.
How Urban Renewal Devastated Gainsboro and Northeast
In 1992 Claudia Whitworth was inducted into the Virginia Women’s Hall of Fame, and in 2009 she was named an African American Trailblazer in Virginia.
Sources
Adams, M. (2020, June 26). Ths Va. newspaper has been ‘making and recording Black history’ for 80years. West Virginia Public Broadcasting. https://www.wvpublic.org/news/2020-06-26/this-va-newspaper-has-been-making-and-recording-black-history-for-80-years
Bishop, M. (1992, March 20). Uniting a congregation of readers. The Roanoke Times.
Campagna-Hamlin, M. (1996, February 1). Can Henry Street rise from ashes? The Roanoke Tribune.
Our history – the Roanoke Tribune. (n.d.). The Roanoke Tribune. Retrieved January 6, 2022, from https://theroanoketribune.org/our-history/
The Rev. F.E. Alexander (publisher and pastor). (1982, April 25). The Roanoke Times.
Va. Baptist Body Blasts Cleric Who Hit Integration. (1956, Aug 08). Daily Defender (Daily Edition).