By Cash Michaels
Another pioneer of North Carolina’s Black Press has passed on.
Ernest Harold “Ernie” Pitt, the original owner, cofounder and publisher of The Winston-Salem Chronicle died Oct. 23rd.
He was 80 years old.
“He was a pioneering publisher, a Vietnam veteran, a community leader, and a member of the North Carolina Media & Journalism Hall of Fame,” said Pitt’s son, Wali. “For 43 years, he led The Winston-Salem Chronicle.”
Founded in 1974, The Chronicle, as it is more commonly known, became the voice of Winston-Salem’s African-American community under Ernie Pitt. Starting as a four-page weekly with no money or investors, it not only reported news most important to its community, but also challenged the Twin City’s political power structure when needed on behalf of the Black community.
Along with his then wife, Elaine, working behind the scenes to keep the newspaper afloat, Pitt hit the streets in search of stories and events he could put in The Chronicle so that his community was kept abreast rneyre were plenty of copies to cover the community. And of course, just like the Black newspaper owners of yesteryear, Pitt made sure he sold as much advertising as possible to build The Chronicle, and keep it viable and alive.
For Ernie Pitt, publishing The Chronicle was a fulfilling journey in creating a Black enterprise that built wealth, provided a platform for community leadership, and carefully built a legacy for others, especially young people to follow. Through The Chronicle, publisher Pitt became nationally known for his vision and commitment to excellence.
In 2017, Pitt sold the newspaper to The Chronicle Media Group.
In April 2022, Pitt was inducted into the North Carolina Media and Journalism Hall of Fame.
On April 29th, 2008, as president of the NC Black Publishers Association, Ernie Pitt led a roundtable of NC Black Publishers from across the state in welcoming then presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who would go on to become the first African-American president of the United States. That historic meeting was captured in a YouTube video that remains on the site (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1NA4T0F-rU).
Long before Ernie Pitt started The Chronicle, he led an interesting life.
In 1965, the U.S. Army sent him as a teenager to Vietnam. He admits to be a young man with no direction at the time. ‘The Army seemed to be a holding ground….to get yourself together,” he recalled. When Pitt left the Army, he got into trouble, ending up in prison for two to three years. But he taught school to inmates while there. It was Ben Ruffin, a special assistant to then Gov. Jim Hunt, who helped to get him a pardon.
It was at NC A&T University in Greensboro where Pitt Realized he had a writing talent.
Pitt ultimately decided to start a Black newspaper in Winston-Salem b because it was the only major city in North Carolina without one. It was a hard task, but ultimately Pitt succeeded in building The Chronicle into a community institution.
“You can only be resurrected when you’ve gone through the fire,” Ernie Pitt Once said. “And I’ve been through the fire several times.”
