Author, historian and former EBONY and JET editor Lerone Bennett was found safe Saturday afternoon after being reported missing earlier in the day.
Bennett, 88, had gone missing from his home on the south side of Chicago at about 5:05 a.m., according to the Chicago Sun-Times. He was found unharmed late that afternoon, police say, although they did not provide detailes.
Bennett became one of the earliest editors of JET in when he moved to Chicago from Atlanta to become the weekly magazine’s city editor in 1951, about a year after it was founded by publisher John H. Johnson. He went on to become associate editor of EBONY and served in an editorial leadership capacity for decades at both publications.
Later he became known also as an author and historian, whose book Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America, 1619-1962 became one of the most sought after writings about race, slavery and discrimination in print.
His other titles include What Manner of Man; The Shaping of Black America; and Succeeding Against the Odds, a biography of Mr. Johnson.
