For more than 40 years, Rockingham native Barry Saunders has kept readers both entertained and informed as a journalist and columnist.
His notable career as an award-winning journalist began at the Atlanta Constitution newspaper as a copyboy and obituary writer. Saunders, who is described as powerfully honest and illustratively funny, is currently the publisher of The Saunders Report, his own online news platform.
Saunders, a Richmond Senior High School graduate, who attended the former Leak Street School, attended St. Augustine’s University College in Raleigh, Ferrum Junior College in Ferrum, Viriginia, and Morris College in Sumter, South Carolina, before finishing his schooling at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Prior to establishing his own news blog, Saunders was a columnist for the News & Observer in Raleigh for 20-plus years and has written for several other publications, including the Atlanta Constitution, the Richmond County Daily Journal, The Robeson Record in Lumberton and The Post-Tribune in Gary, Indiana. He also published his own newspaper, the Richmond County North Star, in Rockingham, for three years.
Although it was his writing career that landed him in the presence of many famous people, including a couple United States Presidents, his first encounter with a President was in 1969 when on a family trip over spring break to visit relatives in Washington, DC. During the trip, his family stopped by the White House to see the newly inaugurated President Richard Nixon. Years later, he found himself again among the graces of the highest ranking official in the country when shared an elevator with former President Bill Clinton at a journalism conference in Detroit and former President Barack Obama even cited one of his columns when he spoke at a funeral for a Harvard Law classmate and close friend from North Carolina.
Join us today in celebrating the magnitude and success of this prominent voice from Richmond County!
Special thanks to Mayor John Hutchinson for suggesting Barry Saunders!
(Editor’s Note: Visit Richmond County is highlighting prominent local African Americans each day in February in honor of Black History Month. Previous individuals featured include late Richmond County sheriff James E. Clemmons Jr., late state representative Harrison Ingram Quick, dancer and makeup artist Ciarra Kelley, Ellerbe Mayor Brenda Capel, two-time Super Bowl champion Perry Williams, Bishop Arlester Simpson of Ellerbe, Richmond County School Board member Ronald Tillman, and educator Melvin Ingram. See the Visit Richmond County Facebook page for more on these outstanding individuals.)
Meghann Lambeth is director of the Richmond County Tourism Development Authority.
