Roi Ottley
Born	Vincent Lushington Ottley (1906-08-02)August 2, 1906 New York City, New York, United States
Died	October 2, 1960(1960-10-02) (aged 54)
Occupation	writer, journalist, broadcaster
Language	English
Nationality	American
Notable works	New World A-Coming: Inside Black America

Vincent Lushington "Roi" Ottley (August 2, 1906 – October 2, 1960) was an American journalist and writer. ^{[1] [2]} Although largely forgotten today, he was among the most famous African American correspondents in the United States during the mid-20th century. ^[3]

Early life

Ottley was born in New York City on August 2, 1906, to Jerome Peter and Beatrice Ottley, the second of their three children. ^[1] His parents were immigrants from the Caribbean island country of Grenada. ^[2] He attended public schools in the city, where he excelled in basketball, baseball, and track, ^[2] and in 1926 he won a track scholarship to St. Bonaventure College in Allegany, New York. ^{[1] [2] [4]} At St. Bonaventure, he was a writer and cartoonist for the campus newspaper. ^[2] In 1928, he transferred to the University of Michigan to concentrate on journalism. ^[2] He later studied part-time at St. John's Law School ^[1] and Columbia University, both in New York City. ^{[2] [4]}

Career

Ottley worked as a journalist for the Amsterdam News from 1931 to 1937. ^[1] In 1937, Ottley joined the New York City Writers' Project as an editor. ^[1] In 1943 he published New World A-Coming: Inside Black America, which described life for African Americans in Harlem, New York City, in the 1920s and 1930s. ^{[2] [3] [4]} The book incorporated Ottley's reports from the New York City Writer's Project. ^[1] It won the Life in America prize, an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and a Peabody Award, and was adapted for a series of radio broadcasts. ^{[1] [2] [4]} Also the book became the basis for the anthology radio program broadcast on WMAC in New York. ^[5]

Ottley became the publicity director of national CIO War Relief Committee in 1943. ^[1] He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the US Army in 1944. ^[2] During World War II, Ottley reported from Europe for Liberty Magazine, PM, and the Pittsburgh Courier, becoming the first African American war correspondent to cover the war for major newspapers. ^{[1] [2] [4]} Ottley covered events such as the Normandy Invasion, the hanging of Mussolini, and the Arab–French conflict in Syria. ^[1] He also interviewed important personalities like Governor Talmadge of Georgia, and Samuel Green, Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan. ^[1] Ottley also became the first African American to interview a pope when he met with Pope Pius XII in 1945. ^[2]

He later worked for the Chicago Tribune and broadcast reports for CBS and BBC radio. ^[1]

Ottley's other published works include Black Odyssey: The Story of the Negro in America, 1948; ^[6] No Green Pastures, 1951; ^[7] and Lonely Warrior: The Life and Times of Robert S. Abbot, 1955. ^[8] Two were published posthumously: White Marble Lady in 1965, ^[9] and The Negro in New York: An Informal Social History, 1626–1940 in 1967. ^{[10] [1]}

Death

Ottley died on October 2, 1960, from a heart attack. ^{[1] [2]}

See also

• Destination Freedom – a post-WWII anthology radio series airing in Chicago featuring vignettes about Negro history written by Richard Durham

References

Primary sources

• Ottley, Roi and Huddle, Mark A. Roi Ottley's World War II: The Lost Diary of an African American Journalist (University Press of Kansas, 2011). ISBN  978-0700617692, 978-0700618910, OCLC  681500381
  • Lankford, James R. (Winter 2013). "Book Review: Roi Ottley's World War II: The Lost Diary of an African American Journalist". On Point. 18 (3). Army Historical Foundation: 60. ISSN  2577-1337. JSTOR  26363235. OCLC  7852920490.
  • Book Discussion on Roi Ottley's World War II with Mark Huddle, June 23, 2012 – C-Span

Further reading

• Savage, Barbara Dianne (1999). "Chapter 6: New World A'Coming and Destination Freedom". Broadcasting Freedom: Radio, War, and the Politics of Race 1938–1948. Chapel Hill & London: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 246–270. ISBN  978-0807848043. OCLC  40135343.

External links

• 1944–1945 Radio Series based on Roi Ottley's New World A'Coming on archive.org