Mildred Brown

Mildred D. Brown (December 20, 1905 – November 2, 1989) was an African-American journalist, newspaper publisher and leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Omaha, Nebraska. Part of the Great Migration, she travelled from Alabama via New York and Des Moines, Iowa. In Omaha, she and her husband founded and ran the Omaha Star, a newspaper of the African-American community.

After 1945, Brown continued to run alone what was the only African-American newspaper in Omaha. It became the only newspaper of the African-American community in the state. She used its influence for education, community building, supporting the national civil-rights movement and opening up jobs for blacks. In the 1960s, President Lyndon Johnson appointed her as a goodwill ambassador to East Germany.

Brown was the first African-American and one of only three women inducted into the Omaha Business Hall of Fame. She also has been posthumously inducted into the Nebraska Journalism Hall of Fame (2007) and the Omaha Press Club Journalism of Excellence Hall of Fame (2008).

Early life and family Mildred Brown was born in Bessemer, Alabama, in 1905 to Rev. and Mrs. Bennie J. Brown, a prominent African-American family. Her mother was a teacher. They encouraged her education. In 1931, Brown graduated from Miles College (then called Miles Memorial Teachers College), an historically black college (HBCU) founded in Birmingham, Alabama, by the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.

Brown worked as a teacher in Birmingham, where she met and married S. Edward Gilbert, a pharmacy graduate of Howard University. They moved to Chicago, where Brown studied at Chicago Normal College, and then to Des Moines, where she took journalism at Drake University. Brown started in journalism and started selling advertising and writing news at the Silent Messenger in Sioux City, Iowa, where Gilbert was editor. Created by prominent black church leaders, the group continued efforts for broader grassroots employment. It also added the issues of housing, civil rights and social justice. Her niece, Dr. Marguerita Washington, continued to publish the newspaper In 2019, the assets of the newspaper were purchased by the Mildred D. Brown Memorial Study Center, which continues to run the newspaper today.

Honors Brown was the first African American and one of only three women inducted into the Omaha Business Hall of Fame. In the 1960s, President Johnson commended Brown for her balanced coverage of civil rights efforts and riots, and appointed her as a goodwill ambassador to travel to East Germany. The National Newspaper Publishers Association, with 200 member owners of black newspapers, once recognized the Omaha Star as having the "Best Church Page". in May 2008, Brown was posthumously inducted into the first class of the Omaha Press Club Journalists of Excellence Hall of Fame. The Mildred Brown Memorial Strolling Park was dedicated in her honor in May 2008 next to the Omaha Star building. Her niece, Dr. Marguerita Washington, founded the non-profit Mildred D. Brown Memorial Study Center in 2007 to provide scholarships for journalism students to explore communication fields.