From Convicted Felon To Fearless Civil Rights Advocate, The Story of Harry Golden

By Frank Stasio,

Anita Rao

Published June 2, 2015 at 11:51 AM EDT

Image of Golden on the campaign trail for Robert F. Kennedy's successful run for US Senate. The inscription reads: "To Harry...and afterwards I put on my coat, did what you told me, and won the election. My thanks, Bob Kennedy"

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Harry Golden is an acclaimed Jewish-American humorist and writer best known for founding “The Carolina Israelite.” Here he is on the campaign trail for Robert F. Kennedy's successful run for US Senate. ";s:

Harry Golden Papers, J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

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Harry Golden at his desk in December 1957.

Tom Nebbia / LOOK Magazine Photograph Collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

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Harry Golden in 1957. Golden wrote about race, religion, and civil rights in his monthly newspaper, the Carolina Israelite.

Tom Nebbia / LOOK Magazine Photograph Collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

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Kimberly Hartnett, the author of "Carolina Israelite: How Harry Golden Made Us Care About Jews, The South, And Civil Rights."

Alan S. Weiner

Harry Golden is no longer a household name in North Carolina, but at one point he was likely the most famous North Carolinian in the country. Golden was a Jewish-American writer who grew up in New York City’s Lower East Side in the early 1900s.

He spent his early years as a small-time stock broker but wound up in federal prison for investment fraud. He turned his life around after moving to the South, and landed in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1940. He founded his own monthly newspaper, The Carolina Israelite, and became a household name for his writings on race, religion and civil rights.

Host Frank Stasio talks to author Kimberly Hartnett about writing and publishing the first comprehensive biography of Harry Golden, “Carolina Israelite: How Harry Golden Made Us Care About Jews, The South, And Civil Rights” (UNC Press/2015). Hartnett reads from the book at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh tonight at 7 p.m.