Frank Thomas

Frank Thomas left the navy in 1943 with "a full head of steam," as seamen say, but not much money. So he borrowed $150 and started his first paper, The Alabama Citizen, in Tuscaloosa. Soon Thomas would be one of the state's preeminent newspaper publishers and possess one of the strongest voices calling for racial equality.

Thomas began his career at the age of eight as a newsboy and worked his way up to reporter and agent for several Birmingham and Tuscaloosa newspapers.
In 1933 he sought justice after three black men, charged with the murder of a white girl, were shot to death by deputies along a lonely road in Tuscaloosa. Thomas called for an investigation and was forced out of town by a mob.

In 1954 he moved to Mobile to establish his second newspaper, The Mobile Beacon. Thomas and his wife maintained homes in Mobile and Tuscaloosa and commuted regularly between the two cities. An active citizen of both cities, he served in numerous civic organizations. And his papers provided the only coverage of the civil rights movement available to many blacks in Alabama.

Also that year, the Citizen joined the fight to batter down the racial barriers erected against black students at the University of Alabama. Thomas was instrumental in protecting Autherine Lucy once she was admitted to the University. He also promoted a voter registration drive among black war veterans and helped organize the Tuscaloosa branch of the NAACP, even though these activities brought pressure and threats from the Ku Klux Klan.

In 1972 Thomas was the first African American inducted into the Alabama Newspaper Hall of Honor in recognition of his efforts to promote the advancement of civil rights, understanding, and racial harmony in Alabama.
"As a journalist, being black and in Alabama, Frank Thomas often stood alone; stood in the midst of terror, perhaps trembling, yet stood there crying out for justice and fair play," wrote his colleague Emory Jackson. "Such has been the mission and the role of the Black Press."