Pulitzer Prize Recipient. Grover Cleveland Hall received the 1928 Pulitzer Prize in Journalism in the category of Editorial Writing. While at the "Montgomery Advertiser," his editorial addressed his stance against gangsterism, floggings and racial and religious intolerance, including the Ku Klux Klan. Born in the Deep South, he had his childhood in rural southeastern Alabama near the Florida state line. Prior to his years in Montgomery, he was employed at his older brother, W. T. Hall's, newspaper in Dothan from 1905 to 1907, at the "Enterprise Ledger" from 1907 to 1910, and wrote editorials for the "Dothan Daily Siftings" "Selma Times," and the "Pensacola Journal" in the panhandle of Florida. In 1912, he accepted a position at the "Montgomery Advertiser", became chief editor in 1926, and was appointed probate judge in 1933. In his editorials of the early 1930s, he called for the release of the Scottsboro Boys, who were nine African Americans ranging from age 13 to 20 that had been accused of rape of two white women. These young men had been given a "hurried" trial with an all-white jury, found guilty and sentenced to death in the electric chair. On December 4, 1938, the "Advertiser" published Hall's editorial "The Egregious Gentile Called to Account," which was later published as a 13-page pamphlet. In a time prior to Nazi Germany, he challenged his fellow gentiles to rise to the levels of accomplishments of the Jewish population. The pamphlet was published in the United States Congressional Record in January of 1939. He married in 1912 and his son, Grover Cleveland Hall, Jr, became an author, writing about his World War II experiences. He died suddenly from a hemorrhagic stomach ulcer. His 1983 biography, "An Alabama Newspaper Tradition" by Daniel W. Hall, III gives details of his life.
Pulitzer Prize Recipient. Grover Cleveland Hall received the 1928 Pulitzer Prize in Journalism in the category of Editorial Writing. While at the "Montgomery Advertiser," his editorial addressed his stance against gangsterism, floggings and racial and religious intolerance, including the Ku Klux Klan. Born in the Deep South, he had his childhood in rural southeastern Alabama near the Florida state line. Prior to his years in Montgomery, he was employed at his older brother, W. T. Hall's, newspaper in Dothan from 1905 to 1907, at the "Enterprise Ledger" from 1907 to 1910, and wrote editorials for the "Dothan Daily Siftings" "Selma Times," and the "Pensacola Journal" in the panhandle of Florida. In 1912, he accepted a position at the "Montgomery Advertiser", became chief editor in 1926, and was appointed probate judge in 1933. In his editorials of the early 1930s, he called for the release of the Scottsboro Boys, who were nine African Americans ranging from age 13 to 20 that had been accused of rape of two white women. These young men had been given a "hurried" trial with an all-white jury, found guilty and sentenced to death in the electric chair. On December 4, 1938, the "Advertiser" published Hall's editorial "The Egregious Gentile Called to Account," which was later published as a 13-page pamphlet. In a time prior to Nazi Germany, he challenged his fellow gentiles to rise to the levels of accomplishments of the Jewish population. The pamphlet was published in the United States Congressional Record in January of 1939. He married in 1912 and his son, Grover Cleveland Hall, Jr, became an author, writing about his World War II experiences. He died suddenly from a hemorrhagic stomach ulcer. His 1983 biography, "An Alabama Newspaper Tradition" by Daniel W. Hall, III gives details of his life.
Bio by: Linda Davis
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Editor Montgomery Advertiser 1926-1941
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