Panel 2: Lynching and Journalism

Karanja A. Ajanaku was named Executive Editor of The New Tri-State Defender in June of 2007, becoming Associate Publisher in 2018. A veteran journalist with 44 years of experience, including 26 ½ years at The Commercial Appeal, he is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia (1977). Born April 26, 1955 in Natchitoches, La., he grew up in Kansas City, Mo. Prior to September 1986, he was known by the name Leroy Williams Jr.

Dr. L. LaSimba M. Gray, Jr. is the Pastor Emeritus of the historic New Sardis Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. During the eighteen years that Dr. Gray has been at New Sardis, the membership has grown by 2000 members. He served as the Health Coordinator for the Memphis Affiliate of the Congress of National Black Churches for ten years. In this capacity, he led the Memphis affiliate in health ministries and environmental justices.

Otis Sanford holds the Hardin Chair of Excellence in Journalism at the University of Memphis, and is the author of  “From Boss Crump to King Willie: How Race Changed Memphis Politics.” Sanford also serves as political analyst and commentator for WATN-TV Channel 24 News and writes a weekly political column for the Daily Memphian. He formerly was managing editor, editorial page editor and columnist for The Commercial Appeal. 

Laura Faith Kebede is the coordinator for The Institute for Public Service Reporting’s Civil Wrongs project at the University of Memphis that investigates unsolved and unresolved murders of the civil rights era, lynchings, and racial massacres and analyzes their enduring effects. Laura is a Report for America corps member and recently hosted and wrote WKNO public television’s special History, Justice and the Journalists on unresolved civil rights crimes in the Memphis area.