Jason Morgan Ward

“By his own admission, Waters was ill prepared for his venture into Mississippi. The son of Maryland migrants, the Philadelphia native had attended Virginia's Hampton University and started his career at the Norfolk Journal and Guide. Farther south - in what he deemed "the most vicious part" - Waters discovered a world quite different from his college days. 'My awareness of law-enforced segregation was academic,' he recalled, 'and didn't prepare me for the gradual realization that it would inhibit my ability to perform my job.' While critics blasted the black press for sensationalism, shoddy reporting, and a lack of patriotism, they overlooked the obstacles to Jim Crow journalism. Waters quickly discovered that he lacked access to the basic amenities - from hotels and restaurants to pay phones and public libraries - that he had come to expect in his years as a globetrotting reporter.”
― Jason Morgan Ward, Hanging Bridge: Racial Violence and America's Civil Rights Century