By Jackie Hampton, Publisher,
and Wiley Henry, Journalist,
After receiving more than five hundred local, state, and national honors for her extraordinary contributions to publishing, journalism, civil rights, education, and for her support of economic empowerment within Nashville’s African American business community, Mrs. Rosetta (Irvin) Miller-Perry sought only to help others succeed in life.
Miller-Perry was smart, relentless, unyielding, persistent, and unwavering in her pursuit of excellence while reaching the pinnacle of success. She was the preeminent newspaper publisher, entrepreneur, business owner, advocate, and a warrior for justice. On Friday, June 26, she rested from her labor. She was ninety-one.
Though hearts are heavy, Miller-Perry’s legacy endures. What she was able to accomplish in her lifetime is etched into the annals of history.
Born in Coraopolis, Penn., July 7, 1934, to her parents Anderson Irvin and Mary Hall Irvin, Miller-Perry understood that her life would be dedicated to something greater than herself. The Spirit moved her to reach for the brass ring in life and to help aspirants along the way.
Her journey began in the classroom at McKinley Elementary School, Coraopolis Junior High School, and Coraopolis Senior High School, where she graduated in 1952. She would later matriculate at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Herzl Community College in Chicago.
In 1955, Miller-Perry enlisted in the United States Navy. But she did not stop there. She went on to work for a man named Adam Bush in the Pentagon and for the Adjutant General’s Office in Germany.
In 1956, she graduated from the University of Memphis with a B.S. degree in chemistry and from the John A. Gumpton School of Mortuary Science in 1957 with her D.M.S. In 1958, she attended Tennessee State University and Meharry Medical College for nurses training while working at Southern Funeral Home.
While Miller-Perry was pursuing a thorough education, the Civil Rights Movement was teetering on the edge of uncertainty. The Klan was on a war path across the south and hell-bent on maintaining the status quo.
Taking a stand for justice, Miller-Perry was now an active participant in the fury that divided the nation. She worked in the trenches alongside giants like Z. Alexander Looby, Reverend Kelly Miller Smith, Curley McGruder, and countless others who risked everything in their pursuit of justice.
Miller-Perry moved to Memphis and worked closely with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., serving first as a clerk typist for the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in 1960. She was a field representative and a trusted observer monitoring Civil Rights activities during the Memphis Sanitation Strike in 1968.
While the struggle for freedom was ongoing, Miller-Perry remained vigilant. The fight in her never waned. In 1975, she took a job as director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for the Nashville area and challenged an unjust system that discriminated against African Americans and other marginalized communities.
She never winced or bowed in the face of aggression or cowered when fighting for justice seemed an impossible feat. What she had was an abundance of courage to fight and confront injustices whenever they were reared.
After retiring from government service, the entrepreneurial spirit in Miller-Perry tugged at her and she answered the call. In 1990, using her own money, she, and her husband, who was recognized as the first black gastroenterologist in Nashville, founded Perry & Perry Associates, and launched Contempora, a Tennessee-focused African American magazine. In 1991, The Tennessee Tribune, a weekly newspaper, was born.
There was a void in the African American community in terms of positive media and Miller-Perry poured all her resources into this new-found venture to ensure that African Americans had a voice that was not silenced or neglected by mainstream media.
She refused to allow others to define the narrative. For more than thirty-five years, Miller-Perry was able to build a media empire without shrinking from her vision and provided the vehicle for others to tell their stories. She also gave young journalists opportunities to work under her tutelage when the doors at white newspapers were seldom open for upstarts.
As a member of The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the largest and most influential and respected Black-own media resource in America, Miller-Perry served several terms as a member of the Board of Directors for the association and the NNPA Fund.
NNPA President/CEO Dr. Ben Chavis stated, “The living legacy of Rosetta Miller Perry is vital to the future sustainability and progress of the Black Press of America. As Queen Mother of the Black Press, Rosetta Perry exemplified the genius and conscious commitment of the Black Press to freedom, justice, and equality by NNPA. We pledge to keep Rosetta’s memory alive as we approach the 200th Anniversary of the Black Press in 2027.”
For her work in media and community service, Miller-Perry received the NNPA Lifetime Achievement Award on January 25, 2019, at the Hilton Orlando Hotel during the NNPA Mid-Winter training conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. It was at this festive gathering that she earned the distinguished title of “Queen Mother of the Black Press.” Bobby Henry, a former chair of NNPA, recalls roasting her during this event. He said, “I teased her about being a mortician and how she could do away with people who did not treat her right and nobody would ever know. She smiled and gave me a look that said it was possible. She had a good sense of humor but with all her business savvy, was a loving, private woman. Ms. Perry had the genuine sweetness of your favorite aunt with the wisdom and sage of your gangster uncle. She was just a well-rounded person full of love and wisdom.”
Never one to rest on her laurels, the “Queen Mother” established the Greater Nashville Black Chamber of Commerce in 1998 and created that same year the Anthony J. Cebrun Journalism Center in partnership with Dell Computers to prepare young people for careers in journalism.
Miller-Perry also founded the Coalition of 100 Black Women, Les Gemmes, Incorporated Nashville Chapter, the National Council of Negro Women, and the landmark building of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated meeting facility and countless initiatives dedicated to service and empowerment.
Even in her later years, Miller-Perry continued to climb the proverbial ladder of success. She was still making headway in journalism and business until an illness slowed her stride. Despite her health challenges and eventual transition, Miller-Perry lives on through her family, friends, business associates, and those she helped to succeed in their respective careers. Her enduring legacy lives on.
NNPA Chairman and Publisher of the San Diego Voice, Dr. John Warren said, “I consider the passing of Rosetta-Miller Perry one of the great losses of our time and our century. In every respect, she was the virtuous woman that is mentioned in the book of Proverbs. She was a woman who lived a life of service to the community, to government, the military, to business and to the people around her. She reminds me of the poet Samuel Longfellow, who said: Lives of great ‘women’ remind us we can make our lives sublime, and, departing leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time.” Dr. Warren closed by saying, “As we approach July 7th, which would have been her 92nd birthday we mourn her, we cherish her, we love her, we remember her as she will forever be with all of us.”
Jackie Hampton is Publisher of The Mississippi Link newspaper in Jackson, MS and serves as Vice President of The National Newspaper Publishers Association. Wiley Henry is a journalist, visual artist and photographer having worked as deputy editor and senior writer of The Memphis Tri-State Defender newspaper in Memphis, TN.
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