Published by The Evansville Courier

"When a reporter and artist for The Courier called at the jail to see the murderer last evening, he was sitting on his bunk, putting away a goodly sized supper," the July 5 article said. "He was being fanned by another burly Negro. His cell door leading to the bull pen was open and the other prisoners were allowed to visit him whenever they desired.

"The murderer appeared to pay but little or no attention to his surroundings and, when told that his picture was being sketched, only grunted and kept on stowing away his hot rolls, coffee and molasses."

While racist writing continued in the nation's newspapers for several more decades, Don Scism, Courier editor from 1924 until 1954, is remembered for his strides in reversing negative racial attitudes.

"Don Scism was quite liberal in racial matters and effectively changed the newspaper's approach to black issues," historian Darrel Bigham noted. "He really began to champion the end of racial discrimination in Evansville."

In February 1944 Scism served as co-chairman for the first Regional Inter-racial Conference in Evansville, an unprecedented effort to focus attention on the needs of the black community.

On that note, it was surprising to see cartoons entitled "Hambone's Meditations" still running in The Courier during the 1950s. The drawings featured Hambone, a crude caricature of a black man, speaking in an extreme, slurred black dialect. He and other black characters in the cartoon were depicted as menial laborers still working for the white boss.

At the same time, Scism stayed true to his convictions to print positive news on the black community and its accomplishments.