Early life and education

Henderson was born in Fitzgerald, Georgia

Fitzgerald, Georgia

Fitzgerald is a city in Ben Hill in the U.S. state of Georgia, and is the county seat of Ben Hill County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 9,053...

, and began his media career at eleven years old as a paperboy for the Daily Tifton Gazette

The Tifton Gazette

The Tifton Gazette is a daily newspaper published in Tifton, Georgia. It is operated by South Georgia Media Group, a division of Community Newspaper Holdings Inc.- External links :* * - References :...

in nearby Tifton, Georgia

Tifton, Georgia

Tifton is a city in Tift County, Georgia, United States. The population was 15,060 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Tift County.-Major highways:* Interstate 75* U.S. Highway 41* U.S. Highway 82* U.S...

. In 1964, the campaign manager for the Lyndon Johnson-Hubert Humphrey

Hubert Humphrey

Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...

 presidential election heard from a Democratic Party official about fifteen-year-old Henderson’s involvement in civil rights. The official contacted Henderson to arrange a meeting between Humphrey and the student in Tifton. Although only a teenager, the meeting led to Henderson’s selection as an inaugural staffer with the federal program Project Head Start, which began in 1965. Initially, the project aimed to eliminate poverty by providing pre-school children from low-income families social, nutritional, emotional and psychological help.

At age eighteen, Henderson enrolled in the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication

Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication

The Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication is a college within the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, United States...

 at the University of Georgia

University of Georgia

The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...

, Athens. While attending classes full time on the work-study program, he wrote news releases at the university’s News Bureau. Henderson was elected chairman of the Journalism Delegation in the Student Senate and served on the Student Advisory Committee for future President Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

. He was also the first student ever hired to work in the university’s Office of Public Relations. Over the summers, Henderson worked in public relations at the Georgia Regional Hospital at Atlanta in the Office of Volunteer Services, where his duties included working with Rosalyn Carter who was a mental health volunteer.

While an undergraduate at the University of Georgia (UGA), Henderson also attended Emory University

Emory University

Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...

, Atlanta, Georgia, as a grant-funded special student where he first encountered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...

 (CDC) located on the Emory campus. An Emory researcher took Henderson to the CDC where the student participated in detailed meetings regarding the center’s activities. The contacts made during these visits helped Henderson later when he began publishing medical newsweeklies. [see Current Activities]

The same Emory researcher arranged a personal meeting with Emperor Haile Selassie (Ras Tafari) following the Ethiopian’s honorary degree ceremony at Morehouse College

Morehouse College

Morehouse College is a private, all-male, liberal arts, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Wabash College, Morehouse is one of three remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States....

 in 1969. This was Henderson’s second personal encounter with a major civil rights leader. Henderson’s involvement with civil rights leaders, Humphrey and Selassie, led to his interest in academic inequalities. (See Current Activities)

In addition to his undergraduate BA in Journalism awarded in 1971, Henderson holds an MFA in English (Creative and Professional Writing) from Western Connecticut State University

Western Connecticut State University

Western Connecticut State University is a public university in Danbury, Connecticut. Founded in 1903, WestConn has an arts and sciences curriculum, a business school, and several professional programs including elementary and secondary education, nursing, music performance, and social work...

, Danbury (2006). He was the inaugural student selected for the first Yale Publishing Course. Henderson started working on a doctorate in education at the University of Sussex

University of Sussex

The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....

, and is currently a PhD candidate in creative writing at University of Wales

University of Wales

The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...

: Trinity St David, Lampeter, UK, studying under British playwright Dr. Dic Edwards

Dic Edwards

Dic Edwards is a British playwright and poet with more than 20 productions to his name. Born in Cardiff Edwards has often found himself at odds with his Welsh background...

.

Early media projects

In 1971, CW Henderson launched a magazine, Real Estate Atlanta, re-named Business Atlanta. Henderson later published an urban community weekly newspaper, Buckhead Atlanta.

CW Henderson served as official press spokesman for the Atlanta city government (representing all divisions except the mayor’s office) as director of the Community Affairs Division in the Department of Community and Human Development. During that time, Bert Lance

Bert Lance

Thomas Bertram Lance is an American businessman, who was Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Jimmy Carter. He is known mainly for his resignation from President Jimmy Carter's administration due to scandal in 1977.- Early Life :Lance was born in Gainesville, Georgia...

, then president of National Bank of Georgia

The National Bank of Georgia (U.S.)

The National Bank of Georgia was formed in 1999 and opened in 2000, operating out of Athens, Georgia. It is the only locally-owned commercial bank in Athens....

, asked Henderson to be the bank’s first director of public relations and communications. His task as director was to coordinate press activities while Lance moved to President Jimmy Carter’s cabinet as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Henderson left National Bank of Georgia when Lance left the Carter White House in 1977. He then contributed to Atlanta magazine

Atlanta (magazine)

Atlanta is an award-winning monthly general-interest magazine based in Atlanta, Georgia and owned by Emmis Publishing, a division of Emmis Communications...

. His by-lined articles appeared on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the only major daily newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and its suburbs. The AJC, as it is called, is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the result of the merger between The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta...

’s front page. Soon, in 1978 Henderson was selected “Atlantan of the Week” by the Atlanta Gazette. He moved to Washington, D.C. to be staff correspondent for Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. for two years, reporting for Washington Financial Reports and Daily Report for Executives.

Motion pictures and television

TriStar Pictures

TriStar Pictures

TriStar Pictures, Inc. is an American film production/distribution studio and subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures...

, shortly after it was created as an independent motion picture company, hired CW Henderson as its National Publicist and then as vice president of TriStar Studios. While at TriStar, he was one of three PR professionals worldwide selected in 1979 by the News Analysis Institute to receive membership in the “Over-100 Club.” Henderson represented, “outstanding accomplishment…and his leadership in the creation, preparation and communication of public relations news.”

Shortly before the TriStar name and other assets were sold to Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

 and Atlanta-based Coca-Cola in 1982, Henderson left to expand his own media company, Henderson-Crowe Communications, Inc., which founded and produced Video Concert Hall

Video Concert Hall

Video Concert Hall was an early U.S. television network launched on November 1, 1979, on the USA Network and on Showtime, featuring an unhosted rotation of music videos. Often credited as being the precursor to MTV, Video Concert Hall was reportedly the most popular programming on QUBE, a cable...

 on November 1, 1979. Video Concert Hall was the first nationwide music video television network, referred to as the precursor to MTV and VH1. Before Video Concert Hall, producers found it too expensive to secure copyright privileges to allow them to air productions. CW Henderson took advantage of the fact that record labels featured music videos as “promotional ventures” for new albums, and therefore secured rights to air them on national cable television. The understanding was that the airing would help record companies show viewers popular records in order to increase album sales. Content on the TV network included concert footage, studio productions, and guest artists.

By May of 1980, the company claimed that the show appeared on more than 400 cable TV systems in 48 states, accessing about 2.5 million homes. While with Video Concert Hall, Henderson was executive producer and writer for the nationwide broadcast TV premiere of Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

’s Thriller

Thriller

Thrillers are a genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements. A common subgenre is psychological thrillers. After the assassination of President Kennedy, the political thriller and the paranoid thriller film became very popular...

video. The company also produced the syndicated broadcast TV show Pre-Awards Special, an annual video look at the Grammy Awards. After the sale of Pre-Awards Special TV programming to Metromedia

Metromedia

Metromedia was a media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and owned Orion Pictures from 1986-1997.- Overview :...

, the remaining assets of Video Concert Hall were sold to Georgia Public Television, including the studio equipment at Henderson-Crowe Productions in Atlanta.

Current activities

In 1984, Henderson returned to news media and created a series of newsweeklies based on the CDC. NewsRx

NewsRx, LLC

NewsRx is a media company focusing on digital media, print media, mass media, news media, and published media; and arguably the world’s largest producer of health news. The company publishes 292 unique newsweeklies in health and other fields, distributing them to subscribers and partners including...

, Henderson’s medical newsweekly publishing company, began with the production of AIDS Weekly in 1985. In 2008, Henderson added VerticalNews, a division of newsweeklies that covers non-health related fields. As of 2011, NewsRx publishes 292 newsweeklies on topics ranging from education to finance, aerospace, and science. Henderson is executive editor of the 292 newsweeklies including Ivy League Week and Education Letter at The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....

 Professional Edition. In 2011, Henderson started book publisher, ScholarlyMedia, and its imprint, ScholarlyEditions, which published 3,500 reference book titles in 2011. He founded the website, Medical Journalism, which provides current information for medical journalists.

Henderson’s interest in academic inequality (which stemmed from meetings with civil rights leaders Humphrey and Selassie) stimulated his study of college admissions. He is currently working on a book series explaining alternative admissions to Ivy League and other top colleges.

Henderson is an independent Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

 scholar and founder of Twain Scholar. [twainscholar.com] He is currently completing a book manuscript, “Yale is God and Mark Twain is my Father,” a memoir that explores racism, relationships, and redemption.

Controversy

In 1984, Henderson was co-executive producer of Halloween Thriller, taped in Hollywood and Atlanta. The TV special aired in the top 20 TV markets and much of the U.S. in October 1984, including TV stations WNEW (New York), WFLD (Chicago), KTTV (Los Angeles), WPLG (Miami), WQTV (Boston), and WXIA (Atlanta), for a total of 150 TV stations. Some disagreed with Henderson’s insistence that the TV special contained no violence and no offensive clips even though it targeted a mature, 18-49 year old audience. Henderson’s promotional literature said, “Elements include video music of the spirit of Halloween – no violence and no Satanic clips.” The one-hour television special was the national broadcast TV premiere of Michael Jackson’s Thriller video hosted by Thriller album voice, Vincent Price

Vincent Price

Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...

. The showing incorporated the “Billie Jean” cut from Thriller and a controversial appearance by the original cast of the cult-movie classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the 1975 film adaptation of the British rock musical stageplay, The Rocky Horror Show, written by Richard O'Brien. The film is a parody of B-movie, science fiction and horror films of the late 1940s through early 1970s. Director Jim Sharman collaborated on the...

, who performed the song, “Time Warp.” Ozzy Osborne also performed “Bark at the Moon” on the national broadcast.

Henderson was also criticized for starting the AIDS Weekly newsweekly because the non-governmental publication included policy, research, and statistics that some considered exclusive to the government. Also, the publishing staff included journalists rather than medical professionals. Others praised Henderson for being what the Boston Globe called a necessary “watchdog” publication providing needed information to the public. Henderson strongly opposed influence by pharmaceutical companies and stood against premature reporting of experiments. Henderson reported that on at least five occasions, research on the causes of AIDS and other viral diseases at the CDC might have been tampered with.

In 2010, Henderson’s NewsRx branch, VerticalNews China was the subject of a denial of service cyber attack as a result of controversial news that had been reported in the publications. The cyber attack was halted when the company’s IP service identified the source and blocked it.

Henderson was press spokesman for Kalani Rosell and his family during their involvement in a Hawaii school admissions policy controversy. The controversy was featured on the front page of The New York Times. In 2002, Hawaii’s Kamehameha Schools admitted a non-Hawaiian student for the first time in 40 years: Kalani Rosell. Kamehameha Schools

Kamehameha Schools

Kamehameha Schools , formerly called Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate , is a private co-educational college-preparatory institution that specializes in Native Hawaiian language and cultural education. It is located in Hawaii and operates three campuses: Kapālama , Pukalani , and Keaau...

 was founded by the estate of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop

Bernice Pauahi Bishop

Bernice Pauahi Bishop , born Bernice Pauahi Pākī, was a Hawaiian princess, philanthropist, alii, and direct descendant of the royal House of Kamehameha. She was the great-granddaughter of King Kamehameha I and last surviving heir...

to provide education with preference to students of native Hawaiian ancestry. The acceptance of the non-Hawaiian student, Kalani Rosell was received with protests rooted in historical, racial, and cultural inequalities. Hawaiian natives wanted to protect their rights to higher education as stated under Kamehameha Schools’ Hawaiian preference policy. Henderson continued to serve as Kalani Rosell’s spokesman through his years at Yale University and when the controversy again erupted in 2010 when the schools considering admitting another non-Hawaiian.