William Raspberry

Who was William Raspberry?

William Raspberry was a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated American public affairs columnist. He was also the Knight Professor of the Practice of Communications and Journalism at the Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University. An African American, he frequently wrote on racial issues.

In 1999, Raspberry received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College.

After earning a B.S. in history at the University of Indianapolis in 1958, he continued to work at the local weekly Indianapolis Recorder where he'd begun in 1956, rising to associate managing editor. He was drafted and served as a U.S. Army public information officer 1960-1962. The Washington Post hired him as a teletypist in 1962. Raspberry quickly rose in the ranks of the paper, becoming a columnist in 1966. Raspberry was first nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1982, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1994.

Raspberry supported gay rights, writing at least one column condemning gay-bashing. He argued against certain torts and complaints from the disabled.