Oral history interview with J. Lawrence Bowden, Jr., 1971.

Biographical Note

J. Lawrence Bowden Sr. was the editor and publisher of the Orlando Sun Mirror, which he assumed in 1932. Born in Lewisburg, Tennessee in 1893, Bowden attended high school and Fisk University in Nashville before travelling to Indiana, Virginia, Alabama, and Florida.

Scope and Contents

In this 1971 interview with Henry La Brie, Bowden briefly describes his childhood, education and career in insurance before discussing the Orlando Sun Mirror and the future of the black press. Bowden mentions his experiences at Fisk University and LaSalle University. He goes on to discuss his travels in 1918 from Indianapolis, Indiana, where he worked at a hospital, to Norfolk, Virginia, where he was stationed to serve during World War I. In 1920, Bowden returned to Tennessee, traveling to Chattanooga and around Alabama, working at black insurance companies. Bowden describes his employer’s eventual bankruptcy and his final move to Orlando, Florida in 1927.

Subjects

• Advertising--Newspapers.
• African American journalists.
• African American press.
• African Americans--Civil rights.
• Bowden, J. Lawrence,--Jr.--Interviews.
• Editors--Interviews.
• Interviews.
• Journalists--Interviews.
• La Brie, Henry G., interviewer.--http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/ivr
• Newspaper publishing--Economic aspects--United States.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Orlando (Fla.)--Newspapers.
• United States--Race relations.