DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Kenneth Edmonds, the publisher of a newspaper that served the African American community in Durham and across North Carolina for nearly a century, has died.
Chris Fisher of Fisher Memorial Funeral Parlor confirmed on Monday that Edmonds died on Saturday. He was 66.
Edmonds was the grandson of Louis E. Austin, who The Herald-Sun of Durham reports purchased a publication in 1927 and transformed it into The Carolina Times. It was considered one of the most powerful voices for black North Carolina during a time of racial segregation.
The Carolina Times was often distributed across the state and to the rest of the South, said Jerry Gershenhorn, a professor of history at North Carolina Central University who wrote the book “Louis Austin and The Carolina Times.”
“Louis Austin was the voice of the black freedom struggle, I would say, in the state of North Carolina,” Gershenhorn said in 2017.
Austin died in 1971 and other family members took over. Edmonds was initially reluctant to take over the family business because he wasn’t sure of the challenges of taking on that enterprise, said Andre Vann, a friend of Edmonds and N.C. Central University’s archivist. But he recognized how important it was to have a voice in the community and to represent that community in Durham.
Under Edmonds, the weekly newspaper continued covering events, deaths and sports and offering editorials for the black community, Vann said. It covered topics that are often overlooked by other publications.
Edmonds’ son, Christian Edwards, said the newspaper’s April 18 issue will likely be its last.
“The Carolina Times will end with Kenneth Edmonds,” Edwards said. “That was his baby. It meant the world to him, and he wanted to see it through.”
Funeral arrangements have not been announced.
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