Summary: | Magazine editor and social historian Lerone Bennett was born on October 17, 1928 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He attended Morehouse College, earning a B.A. in 1949. In 1954, Bennett became an associate editor at Ebony, and was promoted to senior editor in 1958. From that time, his comprehensive articles were a hallmark of the magazine. A series of articles originally published in Ebony resulted in Bennett's first book, Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America, 1619-1962. The book, with its comprehensive examination of the history of African Americans in the United States, earned Bennett the reputation of a first-rate popular historian, writing eight subsequent books. Bennett continued to document the history of black experience in the United States in works such as Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream and The Shaping of Black America. Bennett received numerous awards, and his articles, short stories and poems were translated into five languages.
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