Hazel Brannon Smith

Hazel Brannon Smith

“Maverick Among the Magnolias: the Hazel Brannon Smith Story" recounts the experience Hazel Brannon Smith, Alabama - Alpha Gamma, had from the time she was a "Southern young lady" with racist views to a woman who strongly supported integration. Upon graduating from the University of Alabama in 1935 with a major in journalism, she bought the failing Durant News in Mississippi. She subsequently bought three more small-town newspapers. Hazel Smith's editorials focused on unpopular causes, political corruption and social injustice. Her editorial writing brought her the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1964 for her "steadfast achievement to her editorial duty in the face of great pressure and opposition." Her life was dramatized in the ABC-TV movie, "A Passion for Justice: The Hazel Brannon Smith Story" with Jane Seymour in the title role. She was one of the subjects in the documentary film, "An Independent Voice.” Awards included the Herrick Award for Editorial Writing, the National Federation of Press Women and the Mississippi Press Association. She was the president of The International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors.