Greensboro's African American Community Newspaper since 1967
The Tau Omega Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. is proud to announce the Inaugural John M. Kilimanjaro Trailblazer Award. This award is dedicated to honoring individuals or organizations that have artfully forged remarkable achievements from the most modest of beginnings. The first recipient of this prestigious award is the Carolina Peacemaker, Greensboro's oldest Black newspaper, founded by the late John M. Kilimanjaro and his wife, Vickie, the paper’s associate publisher.
The John M. Kilimanjaro Trailblazer Award will be presented during the chapter's Achievement Week Brunch, taking place on November 10, from 2-4 PM at the Bennett College Global Learning Center. The guest speaker for this special event will be Charles Coleman, MSNBC legal analyst and member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. Tickets can be purchased via www.eventbrite.com. Type in Charles Coleman and from there tickets can be purchased online.
John Marshall Kilimanjaro Sr. was born on June 6, 1930, in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was the youngest of three children born to Isabel Lawson Broy Stevenson and Arthur L. Stevenson. After losing his mother at age five, he was placed in Sager Brown Orphanage in Louisiana and later graduated from Rust College Preparatory School. He began his college education at Tougaloo College, where he became a charter member of the Rho Epsilon Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
Kilimanjaro earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Arkansas A.M.&N. College in 1952, before becoming one of only a few African American graduate students at the University of Arkansas, where he completed his master’s and doctoral degrees in speech, theater arts, and English literature. He gained recognition as a talented pianist during his college years, often performing for sororities.
His commitment to serving his country led him to join the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy during the Korean War, where he held the role of naval hospital corpsman. Upon his honorable discharge, he began teaching at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical (A&T) College in Greensboro in 1955.
Kilimanjaro was deeply concerned with social justice issues facing African Americans. In 1958, he was appointed secretary of the Greensboro NAACP. His efforts helped facilitate a visit from Martin Luther King Jr., who delivered a pivotal speech at Bennett College, inspiring Kilimanjaro to take an active role in civil rights.
In 1967, Kilimanjaro and his wife founded the Carolina Peacemaker, a weekly newspaper focused on the African American community in Greensboro and Guilford County. The publication emerged as a direct response to civil rights challenges, and Kilimanjaro committed himself to using journalism as a tool for change.
A defining moment in his activism occurred on June 6, 1962, when he was arrested during a peaceful protest with A&T students against racial injustices in downtown Greensboro. Kilimanjaro continued to be an active participant in significant civil rights events, including the 1963 March on Washington, where he listened to King’s "I Have a Dream" speech.
Kilimanjaro's contributions to education and the arts were extensive. In 1965, he was elected president of the National Association of Dramatic and Speech Arts, and in 1969, he established the Speech and Theatre Arts Department at A&T. A year later, he founded the Paul Robeson Theatre, where he served as executive director and produced over 80 major plays during his 22-year career at the university. In recognition of his invaluable contributions, the lobby of the Paul Robeson Theatre was named in his honor in 2015.
In addition to his teaching and theater work, Kilimanjaro was influential in establishing the A&T chapter of the American Association of University Professors. He wrote a weekly column titled “The Other Side of the Tracks” and contributed to various media platforms.
The Carolina Peacemaker, under Kilimanjaro’s leadership, received numerous accolades, including multiple awards from the North Carolina Press Association and the National Newspaper Publishers Association. In 2006, he received the Samuel E. Cornish Publisher of the Year Award from the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
Throughout his life, Kilimanjaro was recognized with various honors, including the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in 2002 and the Man of the Year award from the Tau Omega Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He also received the fraternity’s Founder’s Day Award in 2005.
This award not only celebrates Kilimanjaro's life achievements but also serves as a legacy of his commitment to community service, civil rights, and the power of journalism. Through this award, we honor those who, like him, forge pathways of change and positively impact their communities.
