Founder of black North Carolina newspaper dies at 88

John Kilimanjaro, who founded a North Carolina newspaper that provided information to the black community, has died. He was 88.

Afrique Kilimanjaro said her father died Wednesday morning, the same day his newspaper, the Carolina Peacemaker, is printed.

The News & Record of Greensboro reports Kilimanjaro was an Arkansas native who disavowed his family's slave name and adopted one that referenced the mountain in Africa.

The newspaper, founded in 1967, included coverage of efforts to desegregate schools and a battle to establish a district system that would make it easier for local black people to be elected to political office.

Kilimanjaro also taught drama at North Carolina A&T State University. A funeral service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday in Greensboro.