East Florence in Lauderdale County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)

Clay Bennett

Inducted 2023

— City of Florence Walk of Honor —

Clay Bennett Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sandra Hughes Tidwell, March 26, 2025

1. Clay Bennett Marker

Inscription. Clay Bennett received both the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning and the National Journalism Award in 2002, followed by the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in 2007 and multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists in succeeding years.

Erected 2023 by City of Florence.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Communications • Industry & Commerce. A significant historical year for this entry is 2002.

Location. 34° 48.378′ N, 87° 37.883′ W. Marker is in Florence, Alabama, in Lauderdale County. It is in East Florence. It is on Cox Creek Parkway South. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 15 Hightower Pl, Florence AL 35630, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in North Alabama

and in the Shoals.

It is also in the American South,

specifically in the Deep South,

in Appalachia,

and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America,

a Gulf of Mexico state,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was

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once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Dred Scott (here, next to this marker); Dr. Gerald Gordon Williams (here, next to this marker); Charles Lee Moore (here, next to this marker); Almeda Fowler (here, next to this marker); William "Bill" Yoast (here, next to this marker); Robert E. "Bob" Bruninga (here, next to this marker); Dr. Jeffery Lynn Briggs (here, next to this marker); LTC Allen D. ("Skip") Butler (here, next to this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Florence.

Also see . . . Clay Bennett (cartoonist). Graduating from the University of North Alabama in 1980, Bennett briefly served as a staff artist at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Fayetteville Times (NC). He worked as an editorial cartoonist at the St. Petersburg Times for 13 years (1981–1994) but was fired in 1994. While Bennett's editor Phil Gailey denied the firing was politically motivated, some observers saw it as part of the traditionally liberal newspaper's trend

Photographed by Sandra Hughes Tidwell, May 29, 2025

2. Clay Bennett Marker

towards becoming more conservative. Bennett said "Many saw the termination as political because I was out there on the far left. Obviously expressing your point of view can cost you your job."[2] He later worked for The Christian Science Monitor (1997–2007) and now draws five cartoons a week for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, having joined its staff in 2007. (Submitted on March 27, 2025, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA.)

Credits. This page was last revised on May 31, 2025. It was originally submitted on March 27, 2025, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. This page has been viewed 141 times since then and 16 times this year. Last updated on May 28, 2025, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. Photos: 1. submitted on March 27, 2025, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. 2. submitted on May 30, 2025, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.