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[[image]] Jimmy Hicks 1915-1986

James L. "Jimmy" Hicks departed this life Sunday, January 19, 1986 at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital where he had been hospitalized since New Year's Day. He was 70 years of age.

Jimmy was the only son of Byrd and Mary Hicks of Akron, Ohio. He graduated from Akron's Central High School in 1934 and entered Akron University but later transferred to Howard University, Washington, D.C. Upon graduation he joined the Cleveland Call & Post and continued to submit his news stories while working at the U.S. Department of the Interior, U. S. Tariff Commission, and the U.S. Bureau of Internal Revenue. He left both his news assignments and his government positions to join the Army of the United States in 1940.

He entered military service as a Private and was honorably discharged a Captain, Infantry, earning a Presidential citation for combat duty while in command of a unit in Papua, New Guinea, and three battle stars for valor during the Asia Pacific Campaign. Jimmy also found time to attend the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Upon his return to civilian life, his journalism career took him to Baltimore where he received national acclaim as Bureau Chief for the National Newspaper Press Association, representing here and abroad the 17-newspaper Afro American chain and some 75 other affiliated major Black weeklies throughout the United States. His assignment to cover the Korean War expanded his knowledge, training his sensitivities and his judgement as he mainstreamed his talents within the press corps which included Edward R. Morrow and Charles Collingwood. Jimmy's news stories concerning Black heroes in battle were often broadcast around the world over the Voice of America.

After two years he returned to his Baltimore desk for assignments across the United States, his articles gaining in prestige and authority. He risked radiation contamination as one of a few newsmen cleared to cover two atomic bomb explosions at Yucca Flats, Nevada.

In 1955, Dr. C. B. Powell, Publisher, appointed Jimmy Hicks as The New York Amsterdam News Managing Editor, promoting him to Executive Editor in the same year.  From this position, Jimmy Hicks served his paper, community, and the crusade for equal opportunity and human dignity with eloquent courage, style and foresight. He lifted the community's voice from its vineyard of limited success into the forefront of Black opinion and into the conscience of a nation. He applied the highest standards of journalism to his challenges and brought a new vitality and vocabulary of concern to a community newspaper later projected into national and international prominence.

During the height of the civil rights struggle, Jimmy was often the lone Black newsman covering the battlefields in Montgomery, Mississippi, Little Rock and Atlanta. As a result, he was constantly called upon to report his first-hand experiences to local community groups around the country. On a first-name basis with the principal Black leaders over the last four decades, Jimmy's articles and column, "Another Angle," were widely read and he was often rewritten and quoted by his daily-press colleagues because of his ability to get an exclusive scoop on major stories. 

After ten years, in 1966 Jimmy Hicks was appointed a Commissioner with the New York State Human Rights Commission and Deputy Director of Communications for the National Urban League. His heart, however, remained with reportage and newspapers, and he returned to the Amsterdam News in 1972 as Executive Editor. In 1978 he was appointed Executive Editor of the New York Voice by its publisher, Commissioner Kenneth Drew, and his leadership again brought a borough weekly into city, state and national prominence. New York Magazine cited The Voice as the "Best edited Black weekly in the city."

Jimmy Hicks retired in December 1985, planning to give more time to the Skills Review Center for Black Youth of which he was a co-founder and charter board member. His collected writings are part of the archives of Howard University and before he passed he was requested by the New York Public Library-Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture to exhibit his memorabilia.

Jimmy Hicks believed that doors were designed to be opened, and he opened many as the first Black member, State Department Correspondents Association, Washington, D.C., and the first Black correspondent accredited to the United Nations. A recipient of hundreds of prestigious awards, Jimmy won First Place, Local Column in 1951 of the Pennsylvania Press Association, and in the same year his hometown honored him with its Distinguished Service Award.

He received the Frederick Douglas Award, New York Urban League; Freedom Journal Award, Committee for a Free Press; City University of New York's Seek Program Award; the 188th Anniversary Community Service Award of the Mother A.M.E Zion Church; and numerous other plaques and citations including the New York Club and the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, American Cancer Society, Great Neck NAACP Chapter, Friends of Senior Citizens of Queens, Emilio Gucci Association, Industry Lodge 889, I.B.P.O.E. of W, Economic Council of New York City, Congress of Racial Equality, Ephesus Seventh Day Adventist Church, International Agency for Minority Affairs. The New York City Council and the Manhattan Borough President proclaimed "Jimmy Hicks' Day" on February 10, 1984.

He was a former president of both the Capital and the New York Press Clubs; and an active member of the Overseas Press Club, One Hundred Black Men, Citywide YMCA Public Relations Committee, Advisory Committee of the Boy Scouts, Local School Board of Education in Queens County, the Governor's Club, the 369th Veterans' Association, Manhattan Chapter, to name a few.

He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Daisy Turner Hicks, his "best friend and buddy." A loving family man, he was proud of his wife's achievements in the field of education and was her chief supporter. He leaves a son, James Jr., a daughter, Norma Hicks Robinson, and eight grandchildren: Kevin, Elicia, Schani, Excel, Ronnie, John, Alicia and Todd.

Cathy Connors

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