Hopkinsville native Ted Poston’s posthumous induction into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame is set for 7 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 24, at the Kentucky Theatre in downtown Lexington.
Poston, born in Hopkinsville on July 4, 1906, was known as the Dean of Black Journalists in America. He and four others — George Ella Lyons, James C. Klotter, Loyal Jones and the late Robert Hazel — were selected for the 2022 Hall of Fame class.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism at Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial College at Nashville in 1928, Poston became the first Black journalist in the country to have a career at a white, mainstream newspaper. He covered the country’s major civil rights stories from the mid-1930s until his retirement in 1972. He died in 1974 and is buried at Cave Springs Cemetery in Hopkinsville.
The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning in Lexington is home to the Hall of Fame. It was established to recognize outstanding writers with strong ties to Kentucky. Hopkinsville native Gloria Jean Watkins, known by her pen name, bell hooks, was inducted in 2018, and the Todd County native Robert Penn Warren was named to the first class in 2013.
The induction ceremony at the Kentucky Theatre, 214 E. Main St., is free. The theater will open at 6 p.m. EDT, and seating will be on a first-come basis. Parking is free after 5 p.m. on downtown Lexington streets and in the city-owned lot on Water Street behind the theater.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
