DAILY WORLD: A STORY OF SOCIAL CHANGE By M. Alexis Scott May 22, 2019 A Presentation for The Commerce Club Atlanta, ADW became a daily March 14, 1932, the first successful black- owned daily in the nation. W. A. Scott II founded Atlanta World on Aug 5, 1928.

The Scott News Syndicate grew to include some 50 newspapers and a rotogravure section. But Scott was killed by an assassin’s bullet in 1934. His brother CA Scott took over and ran the business for 63 years. ADW reported extensively on World War II. The Courier launched the “Double V” Campaign: Victory Abroad and Victory at Home. My Dad was drafted out of Morehouse. He was a photographer with his unit.

Lynchings continued to be widespread through the first half of the 20th century. The most heinous in Georgia was the still unsolved 1946 of two couples in Monroe, east of Atlanta.

ADW also celebrated each civil rights victory obtained through the courts. The left the courts for the streets in the 1960s, and resulted in the election of Maynard Jackson as the city’s first Black mayor in 1973. Even a Black mayor could not prevent the series of Black child murders that plagued the city in the early 1980s. WA Scott III, son of the founder and my father, died in 1992. I took over as publisher in 1997. We launched our website in 1999. CA Scott died in 2000. ADW celebrated 75 years in 2003. In its 80th year, the city’s first downtown tornado took the roof off its Auburn Avenue building. ADW persevered through the Great Recession and the changes in the industry. In 2009 three ADW newsstands opened in the Atlanta Airport. In 2012 ADW was acquired by a new company. ADW POWERED BY MEDIA

Real Times Media welcomes ADW to the fold with publishers and executives from The Defender, The New , The Chronicle and The Memphis Tri-State Defender. Hiram Jackson (center) serves as CEO of Real Times Media. In 2016, Real Times acquired the Atlanta Tribune, giving them a magazine, newspaper and a Who’s Who Directory in Atlanta. ADW continued its mission to inform, educate, inspire and entertain with a new format and logo. ADW marks its 91st year in August. www.atlantadailyworld.com.

This year marks 17 years for me as a panel member of the Georgia Gang on Fox 5 Atlanta, with our new host Lori Geary. Since Dick Williams retired last week, I’m the longest serving gangster.

ADW launched its new Digital Daily and digital edition in October 2012. Last year it suspended its print publication and is available online at www.atlantadailyworld.com.

I left ADW in 2014 and became part of the executive team that opened the Center for Civil and Human Rights in downtown Atlanta. Currently, I’m working on my memoir. With my new husband Brian McKissick, I am one of the writers of a screenplay inspired by my father’s experiences during World War II.