By Phyllis Qualls and Tennessee Tribune Staff Contributors
Rosetta Miller-Perry, trailblazer, visionary, bridge builder and motivator, passed peacefully on Friday, June 26, surrounded by family. She was 91.
Shortly after she passed, the family posted a message on the Tennessee Tribune’s website. Perry’s remarkable presence and influence extended throughout Tennessee and beyond.
After graduating from high school in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, she joined the Navy and earned an honorable discharge. She began work in the Pentagon and several government departments, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She was an observer in Memphis during the Civil Rights protests and the sanitation protest. She was in Memphis when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. The danger was prevalent because her life was threatened several times.
While working at the EEOC, she was assigned to Memphis to observe the sanitation protest. And during that time, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Perry was compromised, and her life was threatened. Yet, she was not afraid and continued her work.
She retired from the federal government after 25 years of service; she established Perry & Perry Associates and started the Black-based Contempora Magazine in 1990 and the Tennessee Tribune in 1991. She could not get a loan; therefore, she used her own funds to establish these media outlets before AI and cell phone use were so prevalent. The Tribune is now 35 years old.
At the 30th anniversary of the paper, NNPA president and CEO, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., dubbed Perry “Queen Mother of the Black Press,” because of her years in journalism and the impact she has had on the industry.
Miller-Perry has been described as a trailblazer, visionary, motivator, role model, and entrepreneur. She was either a founder or charter member of several organizations. She established the Black Chamber of Commerce so that Black businesses could be recognized and participate in civic and business benefits.
She was also a founding charter member of the Nashville Chapter of Les Gemmes, Inc., a social and civic group focused on exposing youth to the arts. It was as rewarding to Mrs. Perry as it was to the youth. Whatever she did, she did with tenacity and class because she knew she was right!
Her belief in education was strong, and she has scholarships in her name at Tennessee State University, the University of Memphis, and Meharry Medical College.
The Celebration of Life services will be Friday and Saturday, July 11 & 12, in Nashville. The Friday night public viewing will be at Lewis & Wright Funeral Directors, located at 2500 Clarksville Pike, Nashville, TN. The funeral will be Saturday, July 11 at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, located at 7594 Old Hickory Blvd, in Whites Creek, Tennessee.
For more information, contact pqbrooks@bellsouth.net
Tennessee Tribune
https://tntribune.com/trailblazing-publisher-and-civil-rights-pioneer-rosetta-miller-perry-passes-away/
