Articles

In 1947, Caro Brown and her family were living in the South Texas town of Alice when she took a job as a proofreader with the local newspaper, the Daily Echo. Brown soon became the paper’s courthouse reporter. In 1952, she began covering the increasing violence in neighboring Duval County, where corrupt political boss George Parr struggled to maintain his control over local elections. The Associated Press picked up Brown’s stories, bringing national attention to the case.

In 1955, Brown received the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting on a deadline, becoming the first female journalist in Texas to win that award. As the Pulitzer committee put it, Brown "dug into the facts behind the dramatic daily events . . . and obtained her stories in spite of the bitterest political opposition." More»