{{short description|American journalist}} {{use mdy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Joseph Lenoir Chambers | image = | birth_name = | birth_date = December 26, 1891 | birth_place = Charlotte, North Carolina | death_date = {{death date and age|1970|1|10|1891|12|26}} | death_place = | death_cause = | awards = 1960 Pulitzer prize for editorial writing | occupation = Journalist; Author; Historian | title = Editor | education = A.B, University of North Carolina; Columbia School of Journalism, New York | spouse = Roberta Burwell Strudwick | parents = Joseph Lenoir Chambers Senior, Grace Singleton Dewey | children = 1 | relations = | website = | footnotes = | employer = The Virginian-Pilot }}
'''Joseph Lenoir Chambers''' (December 26, 1891{{spnd}}January 10, 1970)<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Lenoir Chambers papers, 1907-1970.(Biographical Information)|url=https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/03827/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-12-05|website=finding-aids.lib.unc.edu}}</ref> was an American writer, biographer, historian, and Pulitzer prize-winning newspaper editor. He served in the American Expeditionary Forces, and briefly commanded a combat company, during World War I.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Chambers, Lenoir {{!}} NCpedia|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/chambers-lenoir|access-date=2020-12-05|website=www.ncpedia.org}}</ref>
In 1960, as editor of ''The Virginian-Pilot'' of Norfolk, Virginia (now owned by Tribune Publishing), he won the Pulitzer for Editorial Writing, for his series of editorials in favor of school desegregation, especially in Virginia.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=The 1960 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Editorial Writing|url=https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/lenoir-chambers|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=December 5, 2020|website=www.pulitzer.org|language=en}}</ref> A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, he was elected to the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame in 1991.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Chambers, Lenoir (1891–1970)|url=https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Chambers_Joseph_Lenoir_Jr_1891-1970|accessdate=Jun 26, 2020|website=www.encyclopediavirginia.org}}</ref>
Author Alex Liedholdt published a book on Chambers, ''Standing Before the Shouting Mob: Lenoir Chambers and Virginia's Massive Resistance to Public School Integration,'' in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Standing Before the Shouting Mob|url=https://www.goodreads.com/work/best_book/6170801-standing-before-the-shouting-mob-lenior-chambers-and-virginia-s-massive|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.goodreads.com}}</ref>
==Background and education== Joseph Lenoir Chambers was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on December 26, 1891, to father, Joseph Lenoir Chambers Sr., and mother Grace Singleton Dewey Chambers. He attended Woodberry Forest preparatory school, graduating in 1910.<ref name=":0" />
Chambers was a scholar who also played varsity sports and edited the campus newspaper, while attending the University of North Carolina. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity and received his A.B. in 1914. After graduation, he taught English at Woodberry for two years, until 1916, before enrolling at the Columbia School of Journalism, in New York; he graduated in 1917.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />
In 1960, he was awarded an honorary Legume Doctorate, from the University of North Carolina.<ref name=":0" />
==Military service== His first, brief job, in journalism, was with the ''New-Republic'' news service, in Washington, before leaving to enlist in the military, during World War I.<ref name=":3">{{Cite thesis |type=PhD dissertation |last=Leidholdt |first=Alexander |date=1991 |title=The "Virginian-Pilot" Newspaper's Role in Moderating Norfolk, Virginia's 1958 School Desegregation Crisis |url=https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/urbanservices_education_etds/119 |publisher=Old Dominion University |doi=10.25777/tb1v-f795}}</ref>
Chambers served as 1st lieutenant, with the 52nd Infantry of the 6th Division, United States Army, and later at Division Headquarters, in the American Expeditionary Forces in France and Germany (1917–1919). He commanded a combat company in France, for a short time.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />
He met Cornelia (Nell) Battle Lewis, while she was part of the canteen service with the American Expeditionary Force, (1918–1919), and they had a brief romance, however, not long after returning to the states, the relationship ended.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bennett|first=Barbara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zxFZDwAAQBAJ&dq=Lenoir+Chambers%2C+American+Expeditionary+Forces&pg=PT40|title=Smoke Signals from Samarcand: The 1931 Reform School Fire and Its Aftermath|date=2018-05-15|publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press|isbn=978-1-61117-861-6|language=en}}</ref>
==Career== On returning from his military service, Chambers served as the director of the University of North Carolina news bureau, until 1921; the position made him responsible for keeping the state's newspapers informed of the activities of the university.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Collection Title: News Services of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records|url=https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/40139|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=December 6, 2020|website=}}</ref> He also served as a reporter, city editor, and then associate editor for the ''Greensboro Daily News'', in Greensboro, North Carolina. In 1929, he joined the Norfolk ''Virginian-Pilot'', as associate editor, under Louis Isaac Jaffe. He married, Roberta Burwell Strudwick, the papers society editor, in 1928.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />
In 1944, Chambers became the editor of the papers afternoon edition, the Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch, and after the death of Louis Jaffe, he served as the editor of the ''Pilot'', a difficult promotion for Chambers, saying he always thought of his new office as belonging to Jaffe. However, Chambers continued in the progressive tradition of his former mentor, pushing for five-years, for Virginia to comply, and integrate the state's public schools after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education courts decision. James Lindsay Almond, governor, had closed the secondary schools a Massive resistance ploy, to avoid compliance.<ref name=":2" />
In 1960, Chambers won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing, for "'his series of editorials on the school integration problem in Virginia," as exemplified by "The Year Virginia Closed the Schools", published January 1, 1959, and "The Year Virginia Opened the Schools", published December 31, 1959.<ref name=":4" />
While working with the ''Pilot'', Chambers also wrote his book, ''Stonewall Jackson,'' a two-volume biography of the Civil War general, published in 1959. After his retirement in 1960, he authored ''Salt Water & Printer's Ink: Norfolk and Its Newspapers'' (1967), a history of the newspaper industry in Norfolk.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|title=Results for 'au:Chambers, Lenoir,' [WorldCat.org]|url=http://www.libcat.bucknell.edu/search?q=au:Chambers,+Lenoir,&qt=hot_author|access-date=2020-12-05|website=www.libcat.bucknell.edu|language=en}}</ref>
== Civic engagement == Chambers was a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the National Conference of Editorial Writers. He continued to stay involved in historical and civic activities, after retirement.<ref name=":3" />
He was a trustee of Woodberry Forest, Norfolk Academy and the Norfolk Public Library, and was a member of the Virginia Historical Society. From 1966 until 1969, he served on the advisory committee to establish the New Market Battlefield Historical Park.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />
== Selected works == A collection of Chambers works and papers are held at the University of North Carolina, as part of The Southern Historical Collection at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library.<ref name=":1" /> A selection of his works are listed below.
* ''The first year after war the war: being a recapitulation of the activities of the University of North Carolina during the year 1919'', Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press, 1920.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chambers|first=Lenoir|url=http://www.libcat.bucknell.edu/title/first-year-after-the-war-being-a-recapitulation-of-the-activities-of-the-university-of-north-carolina-during-the-year-1919/oclc/638927964&referer=brief_results|title=The first year after the war : being a recapitulation of the activities of the University of North Carolina during the year 1919.|date=1920|publisher=Published by the University|location=Chapel Hill N.C.}}</ref> * ''Stonewall Jackson,'' Volume I, W. Morrow, 1959.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chambers|first=Lenoir|url=http://www.libcat.bucknell.edu/title/stonewall-jackson-volume-i/oclc/793457042&referer=brief_results|title=Stonewall Jackson. Volume I.|date=1959|publisher=W. Morrow|location=New York}}</ref> * ''Stonewall Jackson,'' Volume II, W. Morrow, 1959.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chambers|first=Lenoir|url=http://www.libcat.bucknell.edu/title/stonewall-jackson-volume-ii/oclc/793457043&referer=brief_results|title=Stonewall Jackson. Volume II.|date=1959|publisher=W. Morrow|location=New York}}</ref> * ''Seven days I to the last march'', Morrow, 1959.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chambers|first=Lenoir|url=http://www.libcat.bucknell.edu/title/seven-days-i-to-the-last-march/oclc/249401294&referer=brief_results|title=Seven days I to the last march|date=1959|publisher=Morrow|location=New York}}</ref> * ''Excellence in a democracy'', Golden Fleece, 1959.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chambers|first=Lenoir|url=http://www.libcat.bucknell.edu/title/excellence-in-a-democracy/oclc/11587784&referer=brief_results|title=Excellence in a democracy;|date=1959|publisher=[Golden Fleece]|location=[Chapel Hill]}}</ref> * ''The South and the nation: at the 167th commencement exercises of the University of North Carolina, Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill, June 5, 1961'', University of Chapel Hill, 1961.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chambers|first=Lenoir|url=http://www.libcat.bucknell.edu/title/south-and-the-nation-at-the-167th-commencement-exercises-of-the-university-of-north-carolina-kenan-stadium-chapel-hill-june-5-1961/oclc/38009136&referer=brief_results|title=The South and the nation : at the 167th commencement exercises of the University of North Carolina, Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill, June 5, 1961.|date=1961|publisher=[The University]|location=[Chapel Hill]}}</ref> * ''Notes on life in occupied Norfolk, 1865'', Virginia Historical Society, 1965.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chambers|first=Lenoir|url=http://www.libcat.bucknell.edu/title/notes-on-life-in-occupied-norfolk-1862-1865/oclc/949894978&referer=brief_results|title=Notes on life in occupied Norfolk, 1862-1865|date=1965|publisher=Virginia Historical Society|location=Richmond Va.}}</ref> * ''Salt water & printer's ink: Norfolk and it's newspapers, 1865-1965'', co-author with Joseph E. Shank, Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press, 1967.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chambers|first=Lenoir|url=http://www.libcat.bucknell.edu/title/salt-water-printers-ink-norfolk-and-its-newspapers-1865-1965-by-lenoir-chambers-and-joseph-e-shank-with-a-final-chapter-by-harold-sugg/oclc/606297553&referer=brief_results|title=Salt water & printer's ink; Norfolk and its newspapers, 1865-1965|date=1967|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|location=Chapel Hill}}</ref> * ''History as an avocation'', Virginia Historical Society, 1968.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chambers|first=Lenoir|url=http://www.libcat.bucknell.edu/title/history-as-an-avocation/oclc/949933435&referer=brief_results|title=History as an avocation|date=1968|publisher=Virginia Historical Society|location=Richmond Va.}}</ref>
== Further reading ==
* Leidhodlt, Alex, ''Standing Before the Shouting Mob: Lenoir Chambers and Virginia's Massive Resistance to Public School Integration'' (University of Alabama Press, 1997) * ''From Jan. 1, 1959: The Year Virginia Closed the Schools'', The Virginian-Pilot, November 18, 2015. Text of original article by Lenoir Chambers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=From Jan. 1, 1959: The Year Virginia Closed the Schools|url=https://www.pilotonline.com/opinion/article_a5a4a45a-40bb-54e7-9d38-2dc32401c73a.html|access-date=2020-12-06|website=pilotonline.com}}</ref> * ''Historical marker to be unveiled'', The Northern Virginia Daily, June 6, 2011.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Historical marker to be unveiled|url=https://www.nvdaily.com/news/local-news/historical-marker-to-be-unveiled/article_a68c02e5-dd82-5141-991f-83c17770c557.html|access-date=2020-12-06|website=The Northern Virginia Daily|language=en}}</ref> * The Closing of Prince Edward County's Schools, Virginia Museum of History and Culture.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-04-11|title=The Closing of Prince Edward County's Schools|url=https://www.virginiahistory.org/collections-and-resources/virginia-history-explorer/civil-rights-movement-virginia/closing-prince|access-date=2020-12-06|website=Virginia Museum of History & Culture|language=en}}</ref>
== External links == * [http://www.jomc.unc.edu/specialprograms/famejournalism.html#Chambers NC Journalism Hall of Fame entry on Lenoir Chambers]
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chambers, Lenoir}} Category:1891 births Category:1970 deaths Category:20th-century American journalists Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:21st-century American male writers Category:United States Army personnel of World War I Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:Journalists from North Carolina Category:Journalists from Virginia Category:Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing winners Category:Writers from Charlotte, North Carolina Category:Writers from Norfolk, Virginia Category:20th-century American male writers Category:Activists for African-American civil rights Category:20th-century American male journalists