Junius Edwards

As a writer, Junius Edwards (1929 – March 22, 2008) was primarily focused on African-American Civil Rights, racial problems in the South, and the impact of racial, psychological, and personal problems on the African American soldier.

Born in Alexandria, Louisiana, Edwards' parents died when  he was young and he was brought up by relatives in Houston and Chicago.  Junius quit his  last year of High School in Chicago to join the U.S. Navy with a desire to be  a pilot, but instead he was made a mess boy, which was not uncommon for black recruits at that time. He refused to do that job and ended up in the brig twice,  and he soon got a bad-conduct discharge from the Navy.  Without telling the U.S. Army that fact, he joined their ranks at 18 years of old and served for nine years in Korea and Japan, eventually working in the Judge Advocate General Corps and the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps. 

By this time Junius realized his passion for words and writing, and after getting an honorable discharge from the Army,  he received his GI Bill and decided to go abroad to study at the University of Oslo in Norway because he admired the writing of "the father" of Realism, 19th-century Norwegian playwright and poet Henrik Ibsen. In Norway, Edwards continued to write, and in 1958 won first prize in the Writer's Digest Short Story Contest for "Liars  Don't Qualify" and in 1959, he received a Eugene F. Saxton Fellowship for creative writing. Among his published works are the short stories  "Duel with the Clock," "Mother Dear and Daddy," "New Blood," and “Liars Don’t” Qualify” where Edwards confronts the hypocrisy of the town that denies returning soldiers the same freedoms they had fought to preserve. This story is also the foundation for his novel "If We Must Die" which was published by Doubleday and Howard University Press.  

The hit TV show "Madmen" was certainly entertaining, but the show's Producers and writers did not get the whole story right about the Advertising industry in the 1960s and 70s.

Junius Edwards and several other African-Americans were working at that time in creative positions, and starting-up their own Ad agencies as well. Watching the "Madmen"  TV series, one is lead to believe that Blacks were just working as doormen, elevator operators, secretaries, and delivery men at that time.  Wrong!

During the 1960s in New York City, Junius worked as a copywriter for top advertising agencies such as Ogilvy & Mather, Ted Bates  Inc., and Norman, Craig, & Kummel. After working as a copywriter and gaining experience, Junius Edwards went on to establish one of the first Black-owned advertising agencies in New  York City, Junius  Edwards Inc. - with clients and brands that included Faberge, Liggett & Myers, Carver Federal Savings Bank, Robert SONNEMAN Lighting, Greater New York Savings Bank, Random House and others. 

Edwards later worked as a Marketing Consultant, a Special Fellow for United Nations Unitar, and several entrepreneurial endeavors in the health, travel, publishing, and airline industries. 

Junius Edwards' work has been mentioned and covered in - The New York Times, Media Decisions Magazine, Standard Directory of Advertising Agencies, Business Week, Advertisers Weekly, Black Enterprise, Ebony Magazine, Jet Magazine, Crisis Magazine, Negro Digest, Publishers Weekly, The Transatlantic Review, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature, The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the American South, Encyclopedia of African American Business History, The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature

After serving in the U.S. Army with honor and distinction for nine years, Junius used his GI Bill to go and study at the University of Oslo, Norway. This is where he met his future wife Inger, who is Norwegian. They were married in Norway, and in 1960 they left with their two baby daughters and arrived in the U.S. after an eight day journey by ship across the Atlantic Ocean. There they settled in New York City where Junius soon began entering and winning "twenty five words or less" writing contests, which spurred his interest in the Advertising business. He eventually landed jobs as a copywriter, starting his career in the Advertising industry just in time for he and his wife to welcome two more children to the household. 

Junius shared his love for travel with his four kids, exposing them to various countries and cultures around the world and always stressing a global outlook and international spirit in life. This was greatly appreciated by his children. 

Junius Edwards passed away at 78 years of age at home in New York City on March 22, 2008 and is fondly  remembered by his family as a wonderful and inspiring man, a great  father, and loving husband.  

He is survived by his beloved wife of 50 years, his sons and daughters,  grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  

Continue reading below for the full story detailing Junius Edwards' writing and advertising work and achievements. 

We have also collected some online tools for teaching students about Voting Rights at the bottom of this web page.