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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper The Petal Paper (Petal, Miss.) 1953-19??

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About The Petal Paper (Petal, Miss.) 1953-19??

Percy Dale East was born in 1921 in Columbia, Mississippi. He grew up in the poor, rough turpentine and lumber camps in the piney woods of south Mississippi where his father worked as a manual laborer. East began his newspaper career in 1951 as editor of the Union Review and the Local Advocate, two labor union newspapers published in Hattiesburg, now home to the University of Southern Mississippi. Two years later, he established the Petal Paper in the small adjacent town of Petal. The inaugural issue of the Paper came out on November 19, 1953 and read like a typical small-town newspaper with local news and advertisements. Within the first year, the successful publication had nearly 2,000 subscriptions.

The situation changed in 1954 after the Supreme Court ruled segregation in public schools unconstitutional in Brown v. the Board of Education. East began to criticize the state legislature for their determination to oppose the federal decision. He became known for his controversial editorial column dubbed the “East Side” in which he often attacked the policies of United States Senator from Mississippi, James Oliver Eastland (1941, 1943-78). East continued to be critical of those in favor of segregation, especially the white supremacist Citizens’ Councils. In the August 30, 1956 issue, East reprinted a full-page satirical advertisement which ridiculed the organization. In part it read, “Yes, YOU too, can be SUPERIOR/Join The Glorious Citizen’s Clan Next Thursday Night!” As a consequence of his outspokenness, by November 1956, East risked losing the newspaper as local advertisement and subscription dollars dried up.

While local support for the Petal Paper increasingly vanished, it gained national and international recognition. Donations and subscriptions from people all over the country helped sustain the paper. For example, East received support from television personality Steve Allen, who advertised his autobiography Mark it and Strike It (1960) in the Paper. Revenue from East’s compilation Editorial Reprints from The Petal Paper (1959) and royalties from his memoir, The Magnolia Jungle (1960), provided additional income. Local ostracism, however, made it difficult to maintain a weekly distribution; the Petal Paper became biweekly in August 1960, and declined to monthly publication by the end of 1962. In 1964, after East received threats and harassments, the Petal Paper moved to Fairhope, Alabama. In the subsequent years, the newspaper published book reviews and national stories on racial issues. East continued to speak out against racism in his editorials, but his dedication ultimately took a toll on his health, and he sank deeper into debt. After East died in 1971, his wife, Mary Cameron East, continued to publish the paper. The last known appearance of the Petal Paper was the August 1972 issue.

Provided By: Mississippi Department of Archives and History

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Petal Paper (Petal, Miss.) 1953-19??

Names

  • East, Percy Dale

Dates of Publication

  • 1953-19??

Created / Published

  • Petal, Miss. : Petal Pub. Co.

Headings

  • -  Petal (Miss.)--Newspapers
  • -  Forrest County (Miss.)--Newspapers
  • -  Hattiesburg (Miss.)--Newspapers
  • -  Fairhope (Ala.)--Newspapers
  • -  Baldwin County (Ala.)--Newspapers
  • -  Alabama--Baldwin County
  • -  Alabama--Fairhope
  • -  Mississippi--Forrest County
  • -  Mississippi--Hattiesburg
  • -  Mississippi--Petal
  • -  United States--Alabama--Baldwin--Fairhope
  • -  United States--Mississippi--Forrest--Petal
  • -  United States--Mississippi--Forrest--Hattiesburg

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Monthly, June 1962-
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Nov. 19, 1953)-
  • -  Editor: Percy Dale East.
  • -  Published in Petal, Miss., 1953-Oct. 23, 1958; Hattiesburg, Miss., Oct. 30, 1958-Aug. 1964; Fairhope, Ala., Sept. 1964-
  • -  Publisher: East Publication Co., .
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Latest issue consulted: Vol. 19, no. 10 (Aug. 8, 1972).

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper
  • AP2 .P48

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn85044791

OCLC Number

  • 4178093

ISSN Number

  • 0031-6210

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://aj.sunback.homes/ndnp/listawardees.html.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://aj.sunback.homes/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Petal Paper Petal, Miss. -19??. (Fairhope, AL), Jan. 1 1953. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn85044791/.

APA citation style:

(1953, January 1) The Petal Paper Petal, Miss. -19??. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn85044791/.

MLA citation style:

The Petal Paper Petal, Miss. -19??. (Fairhope, AL) 1 Jan. 1953. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn85044791/.