Birthdays: two Southern greats

Douglas Southall Freeman (1886-1953)

Historian, biographer, radio commentator, journalist, author

A Ph.D in history at Johns Hopkins, Lee joined the Richmond Times-Dispatch at 20 and became editor of the Richmond News-Leader at 29. He held the post for the next 34 years. During that run he produced an estimated 600,000 words a year of newspaper copy; did two radio commentary programs a day; taught at the Army War College for seven years; commuted- by air, weekly- to New York to teach at the Columbia School of Journalism; made a national reputation as a military analyst in World Wars I and II; and wrote fifteen books.

Among his books were his four volume R.E. Lee: A Biography (1934-35), which won the Pulitzer Prize and still stands as the authoritative life. He took up the biography of George Washington, publishing the first of seven volumes in 1942. The last, published in 1957 from his notes, won him his second Pulitzer.

Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980)

Journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist

Born poor in Texas, scrappily educated, Porter made her first marriage at 16. Escaping the abusive marriage, she made a living as an actress for a decade before spending two years in a sanatorium with bronchitis misdiagnosed as TB, then nearly died in the influenza pandemic of 1918-19.

Porter made her way to New York, where she cobbled together a living as a journalist and published her first novel in the late 1930s. Her short stories won her critical acclaim but insufficient wealth; she lived on grants and fellowships and speaking fees during her 22-year struggle to complete the novel Ship of Fools. Finally published in 1962, the book won her the Pulitzer Prize, the biggest American book sales of the year, and a gigantic movie advance. The writer and bon vivant Eugene Walter told a story, in his memoirs, of Porter and William Faulkner, both rich and famous, dining in a grand Parisian restaurant. At one point, Falkner paused, then commented, “Back home, the butter beans are in.” He paused. “The speckled ones.”

Porter twirled her wine glass, stared off into the distance, and replied, “Blackberries.”