Almena Lomax

Hallie Almena Lomax (née Davis) (July 23, 1915 – March 25, 2011) was an African American journalist and civil rights activist.

Biography

Early life

Born in Galveston, Texas, Lomax moved as a young child with her family to Chicago and later California, where she studied journalism at Los Angeles City College.[1]

Career

In 1941, she started the Los Angeles Tribune, a weekly newspaper targeted at the African-American community, which she ran with her former husband, Lucius W. Lomax, Jr. (1910–73).[2] During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, she left California, with her children, to join the struggle in the South.[3] Later she returned to California, where she worked at the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner.[1] As a reporter, she covered such topics as the kidnapping of Patty Hearst.[3]

She can be seen as a contestant on the 3rd March 1955 edition of You Bet Your Life alongside Joe Louis.

Personal life

Lomax, a divorcee, had six children, four of whom survived her.[2] One of her surviving children is Michael L. Lomax, former chairman of the Fulton County (Ga.) Commission, former president of Dillard University, one of the historically black colleges, in New Orleans, La., and current president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund. Lomax was predeceased by two daughters, Michele L. Lomax, a San Francisco film critic and journalist, who died in 1987, and Los Angeles civil rights lawyer Melanie E. Lomax, who died in 2006. She appeared on "You bet your life" with Groucho Marx, alongside Joe Louis.

References

  1. 1 2 "Almena Lomax, noted black journalist, dies at 95". San Francisco Chronicle. 1 April 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  2. 1 2 Woo, Elaine (1 April 2011). "Almena Lomax obituary: Civil rights activist who launched Los Angeles Tribune newspaper dies at 95". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  3. 1 2 "Almena Lomax, journalist, dead at 95". United Press International. 2 April 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
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