Mildred Brown; Publisher of Paper, Rights Activist

Mildred Brown, 76, a civil rights activist and the owner, publisher and editor of the Omaha Star. Her paper began publishing on July 9, 1938, selling 6,000 copies for a dime apiece; circulation is now 30,685 and the price is 35 cents. Sought out by politicians, Brown, winner of the NAACP’s Unsung Heroine Award, enjoyed a friendship with the late Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey (D-Minn.), who was known for his civil rights legislation. The Star covered not only civil rights protests and violence and the black perspective on news, but everyday community and church news, including many entire sermons. “This paper breaks down discrimination in this town,” she once said of her success in running the area’s only black newspaper. “They call us troublemakers, nothing but troublemakers. I just sold ads like mad.” In Omaha on Thursday after a bout with a severe cold.