Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the A. Alexander Morisey Papers #5038-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Provenance

Received from Muriel Morisey of Philadelphia, Pa., in September 2000 (Acc. 98739).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: John Foster, May 2002

Encoded by: John Foster, May 2002

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, October 2010

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• African American journalists--North Carolina.
• African Americans--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Journalists--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Morisey, A. Alexander (Alfred Alexander), d. 1979.
• North Carolina--Race relations.
• Winston-Salem (N.C.)--History.
• Winston-Salem (N.C.)--Social life and customs.

A. Alexander (Alfred Alexander) Morisey was an African American journalist from North Carolina. He graduated in 1934 from Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., where he was editor of the Shaw University Journal, the student newspaper. He taught for five years, 1934-1939, in Wilson, N.C.; was director of publicity for Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C.; and was a reporter for the Norfolk Journal and Guide. In 1949-1955, he wrote for the Twin City Sentinel (Winston-Salem, N.C.) and the Winston-Salem Journal, where he was responsible for putting together a weekly page of news about the African American community in Winston-Salem.

After Morisey left Winston-Salem, he was director of special publicity for the American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia, 1955-1962. From 1962 through 1967, he was director of public relations for the Commission on Human Relations in Philadelphia. In 1968-1969, Morisey was director of public relations for Howard University, and, from 1969 until 1973, he was public relations manager for the New York Times.

For professional purposes, Morisey used the name A. A. Morisey or A. Alexander Morisey. In an essay reflecting on his career, Morisey wrote that he had "...started my writing career while at Shaw as A. Alexander Morisey which seemed like an impressive way to keep my Negro and private identity as Alex Morisey but, when I got into the business professionally I wrote my byline as A. A. Morisey. Thus I hoped to avoid being addressed by my first name as southerners were apt to do which was an insult to Negroes in that period."

Morisey died of cancer in 1979.

The collection contains letters of A. Alexander Morisey, African American journalist, as well as articles and speeches written by and about A. Alexander Morisey. Morisey's articles are mostly about African American life in Winston-Salem, N.C. Many of the articles are from the Winston-Salem Journal and Sentinel's Sunday news page about African Americans, which Morisey edited. Also included are a letter, 1946, about the terms of his employment with the Norfolk Journal and Guide; a letter, 1949, about his employment with the Winston-Salem newspapers; and a letter, 1951, requesting information for a news story.

• Extra-oversize paper folder (XOPF-5038/1)