Daniel L. Inman, who started a Black-owned newspaper in Thomasville has died.
He used his newspaper to inform the African American community on the Georgia-Florida line and advocate for civil rights. Inman also marched with Atlanta civil rights icons. He volunteered with many local and national political campaigns, including Maynard Jackson’s successful run for mayor of Atlanta. He moved to Decatur in 1976 and volunteered with Hosea Williams in the Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless drives.
Inman was born in tiny Quitman, which is between Valdosta and Thomasville, on March 27, 1937. He died Jan. 8. He was 87 year old.
His daughter, Federal Administrative Judge Danette Mincey from South Carolina, said her father didn’t have a background in newspapers. But he discovered a lifelong attraction to politics while attending Savannah State University. He returned to southwest Georgia to found The Thomasville News during the boil of the Civil Rights Movement.
“My father’s life’s work founding the first Black-owned newspaper in Thomasville and championing civil rights was not just groundbreaking but life-changing for countless individuals and communities,” Mincey said. “He used his words as a weapon to fight against injustice, and his voice echoed as a call for equality during troubled times in America.”
He started the Thomasville News in 1967 and later published The Tallahassee News for a short time in Florida. The Thomasville paper closed in 1976. It included the following tagline in every issue “To Seek Out the Truth And Print It without Fear or Favor.”
Credit: Courtesy of the family
Credit: Courtesy of the family
Inman became a member of the National Newspaper Publishers Association/Black Press of America. During his time on the NNPA/Black Press, he had the opportunity to meet and interview President Lyndon B. Johnson and, later, President Jimmy Carter.
Inman would have other opportunities through the NNPA/Black Press, including traveling to Russia, an experience he would hold dear until his death.
However, some of his proudest moments came with the Civil Rights Movement.
“He participated in a number of civil rights marches in Atlanta and Thomasville, as well as surrounding areas,” Mincey said. “He marched alongside the late Martin Luther King Jr., Hosea Williams, Andrew Young and Julian Bond.”
He never left behind his love of politics.
“He was involved in politics until the very end,” Mincey said.
While in Thomasville, Inman worked with state and local voters leagues. He also served in 1972 as the southeastern campaign manager for Shirley Chisholm, the first Black candidate and first woman to run for a major-party nomination for president.
Inman’s son, John “Maurice” Inman, vividly recalled his father’s work on the campaign, saying that his dad took him and his older brother to one of Chisholm’s political rallies in Thomasville.
Inman volunteered with Democratic presidential campaigns, including those of Carter, Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and Kamala Harris.
“He was involved for many years, doing everything he could, wherever he went,” Maurice Inman said.
Mincey said her father’s legacy is the reason she understood her profound responsibility as a federal administrative judge. “He possessed an unwavering dedication to truth, justice and the power of the human spirit by demonstrating that one individual truly has the power to change the world by inspiring others through their actions and ideas,” she said.
His body was cremated. There will be a private celebration of his life Feb. 8 in Thomasville.
He is survived by his wife Gloria and five children and their families.
A version of this story appeared in the Thomasville Times-Enterprise on Jan. 13.
