Erna P. Harris
American journalist and peace activist
Erna Prather Harris (June 29, 1908 – March 9, 1995) was an American journalist, businesswoman, and activist, known for her pacifism. Born in Oklahoma, she grew up in the segregated South and attended Black schools. After graduating from Douglass High School in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, she worked as a maid to earn enough money to attend an integrated university. Graduating from Wichita State University in 1936, and unable to find work, she opened her own newspaper, The Kansas Journal.
The Kansas Journal was a successful Black publication until 1939, when she lost her advertisers because of an editorial she wrote opposing the draft. Moving to California, she worked as an editor for the Los Angeles Tribune, writing articles about racist policies such as segregation of blood supplies, immigration, and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. She led protests in the 1940s against segregation in the military and in favor of conscientious objection. After being targeted by the FBI and McCarthyism, she criticized the House Un-American Activities Committee's activities. In the 1950s, she moved to Seattle, where she published a journal, Bias, advocating for peaceful cooperation, before moving to Berkeley, California, and operating a duplication and printing shop until her retirement.
Harris joined numerous pacifist organizations, including the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Congress of Racial Equality, the Workers' Defense League, and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). She served as chair of the Berkeley branch of the WILPF in 1956, was twice appointed as a regional vice president of the national section and served on the national WILPF executive board.
The public source identifies “Erna P. Harris” as american journalist and peace activist. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Erna, Harris and American.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q116618776. VIAF identifies the subject as 34153651747955782391. The Library of Congress control number is no2018118717. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1908, 1995, 1936 and 1939.
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This entry incorporates text from “Erna P. Harris” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.