Ozell Sutton, one of the Arkansas-born drum majors for civil rights, died Saturday in Atlanta at 90, the AP reported.

He held a Congressional Gold Medal as one of the first African-Americans to serve in the Marine Corps. He was a retired community relations director for the Justice Department in Atlanta.

His Arkansas past is well-remembered by the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Notably, the Gould native was the first black reporter to work for a white-owned newspaper in the state when he was hired by the Arkansas Democrat in 1950, after he graduated from Philander Smith College.

It was at the Democrat that he began to focus his energies on achieving racial justice. He also quarreled with his editors over how to address African Americans in the newspaper’s articles. Sutton wanted black men and women to be referred as “Mr.” and “Mrs.”—just as whites were. Eventually, Sutton’s editors relented.