A Brief Biography of Alexander M. Rivera Jr.

Born in 1913 during the height of the Jim Crow era, Rivera is the eldest of three children of Greensboro dentist and civil rights activist Dr. Alexander M. Rivera Sr. and his wife, Daisy Irene Dillard Rivera. The photojournalist grew up immersed in civil rights activism, since his father was a zealous NAACP member. Prominent national NAACP leaders, such as Walter White, William Pickens and James Weldon Johnson, frequently stayed in their home when traveling, since no area hotels allowed lodging for African Americans.

Rivera attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., and worked at the Washington Tribune before he was recruited to organize the first news bureau in 1939 at N.C. College for Negroes (now N.C. Central University) in Durham. Rivera established the news bureau and earned his bachelor’s degree in 1941.

During World War II, Rivera departed to serve with the Office of Naval Intelligence from 1941 to 1945. After his military service, the photojournalist joined the Norfolk Journal and Guide. In 1946 Rivera became a regional correspondent for the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the country’s leading black-owned newspapers with a national distribution of nearly 200,000. Based in North Carolina, he covered Virginia and the Carolinas for the Courier and the National Negro Press Association.

Rivera returned to N.C. Central University in 1974 to serve as public relations director, a position he held until his 1993 retirement. He was one of the first African American reporters to regularly participate in North Carolina governors’ press conferences. In 1993 Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. recognized Rivera’s lifelong contributions to the state and nation by awarding him the Order of the Longleaf Pine.
The N.C. Museum of History’s hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. The museum is part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives and History, an agency of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. The department’s Web site is www.ncculture.com.

(Back to Press Releases)