Otis Sanford + David Hampton + Ernest Hart

Overview

Newsman is an autobiography of Otis Sanford's experiences growing up in a large African American family in Mississippi during the turbulent civil rights era and the factors that influenced his 50-year career in journalism.

Otis Sanford, a native of Como, Mississippi, is professor emeritus in journalism and strategic media at the University of Memphis. He began his journalism career at the Clarion-Ledger, and subsequently worked at the Detroit Free Press, Pittsburgh Press, and The Commercial Appeal. Today he is also a political analyst and commentator for WATN-TV ABC24 News, a political columnist for The Daily Memphian and political analyst for WKNO-FM. He formerly held the chair of excellence in economic and managerial journalism at the University of Memphis and is former managing editor of The Commercial Appeal. Sanford is the author of the critically acclaimed book, “From Boss Crump to King Willie: How Race Changed Memphis Politics,” and co-author of In a Colorful Place: Seasoned Opinion About Memphis About Home About Life. In 2014, he was inducted into the Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame.

David Hampton, a graduate of the University of Memphis, worked as a political reporter and columnist at the Jackson Daily News in the newsroom with Earnest Hart, the only Black employee, before becoming editorial director of The Clarion-Ledger. After 26 years at the newspaper, he now teaches journalism at Jackson State University and is a pastoral assistant at Wells United Methodist Church in Jackson. There was a period in which David and Otis Sanford worked in the same building that housed the Jackson Daily News and the Clarion-Ledger.

Earnest Hart, a native of Lena, Mississippi, and a graduate of Delta State University, never worked with Otis Sanford, but he worked with David Hampton at the Jackson Daily News from 1978 to 1984, when he left to work at the Charlotte Observer, and then again at the Clarion-Ledger from 1988 to 2012. He retired with the title of assistant managing editor for digital content. Subsequently he worked as the Director of Publications at the office of the Mississippi Secretary of State. He retired again in 2021.