October 29, 1996Faculty honor
He also was recently recognized for his outstanding contributions to American media by KU's Center for Multicultural Leadership, part of KU's Institute for Life Span Studies, at the university's 11th annual Black Leadership Symposium on Oct. 24.
Adams is a pioneer among U.S. black journalists. Over the years, many organizations have honored him for his contributions to journalism and his efforts to advance minorities in the mass communications field.
"Those who know him consider his to be a voice of integrity, bridging the gap between town and gown, and between academic and policy research," the UMMA noted. The association, based in Kansas City, Mo., is an affiliate of the National Black Media Coalition.
Adams has been an associate professor of journalism at KU's William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications since 1973. At KU, he founded and remains curator of the Ida B. Wells Award, given annually for the past 14 years to honor people who have shown exemplary achievement in the advancing, hiring and promoting of minorities in the news media. He also has served as a mentor to many minority journalism students.
Adams has a bachelor's degree in English and fine arts from West Virginia State College in Institute; a bachelor's degree in journalism from Wayne State University in Detroit; and a master's in journalism from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. During his 42-year career, he has served as an award-winning journalist, an educator at three universities, a national political consultant and a civil rights activist.
As a reporter for the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times in the 1960s, Adams covered the civil rights movement under Martin Luther King. The 1967 stories he broke in Mississippi and Florida helped lead to a national campaign to investigate hunger in America and helped result in changes in national policy for fighting hunger. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in journalism in 1964 and 1965.
Adams served as director of the Southern Regional Council, based in Atlanta, in 1965 and 1966. In that position, he was responsible for writing a grant proposal that attracted $1.5 million from the Ford Foundation to start the Voter Education Project. Since 1965, the project has helped elect hundreds of minority officials across the South.
He was deputy director of the minorities division and assistant director of communications for the Democratic National Committee in 1971 and 1972.
Story by Kathryn Clark, (785) 864-8857