Caro Crawford Brown (May 25, 1908 – August 5, 2001) was a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning American journalist.

Biography

Caro Crawford was born in Baber, Angelina County, Texas in 1908. Her family moved to Beaumont when she was 15, and she studied journalism at the College of Industrial Arts and Sciences (now

Texas Woman's University Texas Woman's University (TWU) is a Public research university, public coeducational research university in Denton, Texas, with two health science center-focused campuses in Dallas and Houston. While TWU has been fully co-educational since 1994, ...

). When her education was interrupted by the start of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

in 1929, she took a job in Conroe. There she met Jack L. Brown, whom she married. The couple moved to Duval County. Caro Brown began working for the '' Alice Daily Echo'' in 1947, initially as a proofreader, and later as a columnist, society editor, and courthouse reporter. It was in this last role that she began investigating George B. Parr, a powerful

political boss In the politics of the United States of America, a boss is a person who controls a faction or local branch of a political party. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves; most historical bosses did not, at least during the times of th ...

in Duval and Jim Wells Counties. Parr controlled a

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

system which dominated the political and economic landscape of the region. He had fallen under scrutiny for influencing the outcome of the 1948 Democratic Senate primary in favor of

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

, and for a series of local political campaigns which turned violent in 1952. Brown spent long hours attending court proceedings, requesting public documents, and researching Parr's organization. Her articles were run by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

, drawing national attention to the issue. Members of the Texas Rangers law enforcement agency advised her that she was at risk of violence from Parr's supporters – a reporter named Bill Mason had previously been killed while conducting similar investigations – and Brown began carrying a handgun in her car for self-defense. She became personally involved during an angry courthouse confrontation between Parr and Ranger Captain Alfred Allee. Sensing that Allee was about to physically attack Parr, Brown stepped in to separate them. For her story about the incident for the ''Daily Echo'', Brown was awarded the

Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, Edition Time The Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting is a Pulitzer Prize awarded for a distinguished example of breaking news, local reporting on news of the moment. It has been awarded since 1953 under several names: *From 1953 to 1963: Pulitzer Pr ...

. The committee's decision read: Though George B. Parr was not convicted for corruption, the exposure of his

political machine In the politics of representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a high degree of leadership c ...

greatly limited his influence and eventually led to a fall from power. Caro Crawford Brown retired from journalism shortly after winning the Pulitzer. She died in

Boerne, Texas Boerne ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Kendall County, Texas, United States, in the Texas Hill Country. Boerne is known for its German-Texan history, named in honor of German author and satirist Ludwig Börne by the German Founders of the ...

in 2001 at age 93.

Honors

, 1955 *

Theta Sigma Phi The Association for Women in Communications (AWC) is an American professional organization for women in the communications industry.Kopecki, Dawn (1996). "Makeover gives group new identity, no staff". The Washington Times. It was formed as Theta ...

honor society, 1955 *

Texas Women's Hall of Fame The Texas Women's Hall of Fame was established in 1984 by the Governor's Commission on Women. The honorees are selected biennially from submissions from the public. The honorees must be either native Texans or a resident of Texas at the time of t ...

, 1986 * Texas Newspaper Hall of Fame, 2016

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Caro Crawford 1908 births 2001 deaths 20th-century American women journalists Journalists from Texas People from Angelina County, Texas Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting winners American women's page journalists 20th-century American journalists