John H. McCray, a 1931 graduate of the Avery Institute, grew up in the Lincolnville area of Charleston County.
In 1938 he became editor and publisher of The Lighthouse and Informer, which in 1941 moved its offices from Charleston to Columbia, it provided McCray with a communications base to launch programs for black political participation, racial equity, and social justice.
"I love The Lighthouse," McCray said in a speech December 2, 1945. "We don't publish it to make money. We publish it so our people can have a voice and some means of getting along together."
Cited by the New York Press Club in 1950 as the "best edited Southern Negro weekly." McCray gave up editing and publishing the Lighthouse and Informer in July 1954.
