Ora M. Lewis became of of the most significant journalists in the history of Louisiana after she began her professional writing career at the age of nine.  Her stories and poems were published and recognized early on, winning a prize from The Times Picayune in 1927 for the story "The First Christmas" and having "The Life of Cotton," a poem, published on "The Young People's Page" of that paper in 1932. At the age of 18, Ora M. Lewis secured employment on the staff of a major African American newspaper in New Orleans, the Sepia Socialite, for which she wrote highly significant desegregation and voting rights articles, serial stories, and conducted the columns "Along with Time," "Downtown," "Big Sister," and "News and Comments." She was a member journalist with The Sepia Socialite from 1936-1941 and earned her place among the journalistic elite for her work with this influential African American newspaper.  On August 28, 1937 Ms. Lewis published the poem “A bride’s prayer” in the Louisiana Weekly 11:8.  She also contributed to The Item Tribune and The Morning Tribune during 1937 and 1938.  Letter to the Archbishop published in the Sepia Socialite on July 23, 1938, was instrumental in obtaining recognition for Black Catholics during the Eucharistic Congress in New Orleans and the first ever removal of the physical racial barriers of segregation during the time of Congress by Archbishop Joseph Rummel.  In 1939 Lewis published “Behold the black man” in the Sepia Socialite.  In it she stated that the Negro should not resent the epithet "black," but should be proud of it.  In this series of articles, Ms. Lewis advanced many excellent reasons with sincere simplicity and frankness.

                In 1939, Ms. Lewis published “Bachelor Dean”: a gripping story of college life in the Sepia Socialite.  In this serial story, the character Eppy taught the Dean what matrimony really means by exploring the Catholic concept of Christian marriage.  On June 3, 1939, Ms. Lewis published “A Catholic Challenges Catholics” in the Sepia Socialite 2:7.  This was an appeal to Black Catholics to exercise initiative in the use of the educational opportunities they had received, and to unite in an organization which would make them independent of discrimination. From  May 20 until June 24, 1939 Lewis published “Creole Sunday” in the Sepia Socialite 2:15.  This was a serial article, a combination of fiction and fact, appearing weekly. Ms. Lewis used initials for names of real persons, and stories that were Catholic in atmosphere and concerned with the activities of the B.V.M sodality.

                From July to December, 1939, Ms. Lewis was regularly employed on the staff of The Louisiana Weekly and conducted the columns "Socially Speaking" and "The Man on the Street Thinks," that gained a great deal of attention. She had been a contributor to the paper prior to her employment on the staff. Ms. Lewis enjoyed telling how the issue of The Sepia Socialite containing her story "Black hands and yellow cheeks" was waved on the floor of the United States Senate by Senator Ellender during his heated debate against Black voting rights in 1940. During the summer of 1942, Ms. Lewis was employed on the staff of the New Orleans Sentinel and conducted the column "Heart to Heart by Cousin Adele," "Jim Crow Checkerboard," and "Magazine Page."  On February 10, 1940, Ms. Lewis published “A Carnival kick on the Zulu parade” in the Sepia Socialite 3: 4.  Ms. Lewis pondered, "instead of depicting "savages" as representative of the Black race as the Zulu parade did, why not depict African culture in a way that would do credit to African Americans?"  On January 20, 1940, Ms. Lewis published “Cheated” in the Sepia Socialite 3:4.  This was a short story that illustrated the possibility of African American societal leaders.

                On June 6, 1942, Ms. Lewis published the poem “Creation” in the New Orleans Sentinel 3:6.  On June 20, 1942, Ms. Lewis published the poem “Beauty” in the New Orleans Sentinel 3:6.  From April-May 1943 Ms. Lewis published “Bad grass weeded” in The Colored Harvest 31:26.  In this story, a Josephite priest with a sense of humor established a church for the Black Catholics of New Orleans twenty-five years before the date of publication.  Ms. Lewis wrote the story from the point of view of four children who first met their Father while he was cutting down tall grass in front of an old house.

                After an interruption of seven years, Ms. Lewis resumed her studies at Xavier University of Louisiana, classified as a Junior, in January 1943, with a major in English and a minor in Sociology. Her journalistic background was immediately recognized at Xavier, and Ms. Lewis was appointed editor-in-chief of the university's newspaper Xavier Herald.  Ms. Lewis' stories in Our Sunday Visitor aroused favorable and unfavorable comment and were the subject of controversy. In March 1943, Ms. Lewis' article "The Historian and Negro History" was published in The Negro History Bulletin covering six pages, and a portrait of the author was included. The article had been submitted six years previous to its publication.

                In addition to Ms. Lewis' serious articles and short stories on racial problems her output covered everything from recipes in "Home Hints" and advice to the love-lorn in "Cousin Adele" and "Big Sister" to letters to the editor on contemporary problems.

                Ms. Lewis founded Twinkle Magazine in 1944 with Lawrence Martin, Sr., a magazine that become a prime source of African American lifestyle information in New Orleans. Ms. Lewis served as the Editor of Twinkle until 1949. Mr. Martin held the position of Managing Editor throughout the existence of the magazine. Ms. Lewis' career as a journalist continued as she shifted her focused to conciliatory efforts in desegregation, exercise of voting rights and education. Ms. Lewis co-founded the the Ninth Ward Voting League For Negroes with African American leaders who would eventually gain key political positions in the City of New Orleans. Ms. Lewis' grassroots literacy efforts and voting rights outreach materialized into accomplishments that were once visions of a deeply segregated New Orleans. Ms. Lewis would witness the unfolding of American change that she had worked towards for decades. Ms. Lewis served as a professional educator in the New Orleans public and Catholic schools systems for three decades.  SEEDS In The Wind was her final major work published in 2000.

*Source: Sr. Mary Anothony Scally, R.S.M's 1945 Bibliography.