Simeon Saunders Booker Jr.’s innovative career in journalism transformed how African American readers engaged with news coverage of politics and social injustices. As the first African American reporter for the Washington Post, he provided insight into the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. On August … Read MoreSimeon S. Booker (1918-2017)
Leslie “Les” Payne, raised in the Jim Crow South, was dedicated to utilizing the realm of journalism to improve living conditions of African Americans. As a Pulitzer Prize recipient for his 33-part series titled “The Heroin Trail,” Payne’s late career continues to inspire rising generations … Read MoreLes Payne (1941-2018)
Merritt Talking to Police Officer Image Ownership: Public domain Afro-Filipino author, journalist, and government official, Jesus V. Merritt was born in Agoo, a city in the province of La Union in the Philippines, on October 15, 1913. He was the son of Julius Merritt of … Read MoreJesus Villanueva Merritt (1913- ?)
Image Ownership: Public domain Roland Sebastian Martin is a journalist, columnist, and author. Martin was on born November 18, 1968 to Emelda and Reginald Lynn Martin Sr. in Houston, Texas. His maternal great grandparents emigrated from Haiti to the United States where they settled in … Read MoreRoland Sebastian Martin (1968- )
Image Ownership: Public domain Dexter Dillard Eure Sr., pioneering black newspaper columnist for the Boston Globe, was born in Suffolk, Virginia, an only child to Luke Eure and Sarah Sharpe. His father left the family when he was an infant and his mother died when … Read MoreDexter Dillard Eure Sr. (1924-2015)
Image Ownership: Public domain Philippa Duke Schuyler was an African American child prodigy, pianist, composer, journalist, and author. She became famous in the 1930s and 1940s for her unique musical talents, mixed-race background, and the abnormal methods her parents used to raise her. Schuyler was … Read MorePhilippa Schuyler (1931-1967)
Lester Don Holt Jr. is an American journalist who anchors the weekday edition of NBC Nightly News. He also anchors for Dateline NBC. Holt was born in Marin City, California, on March 9, 1959, to June (DeRozario) Holt and Lester Don Holt Sr. His maternal … Read MoreLester Don Holt, Jr. (1959– )
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Born in Paris, France in April 1978, from Senegalese parents, Rokhaya Diallo most famous as a French feminist and antiracist activist. She is also a journalist for radio and TV. First educated in the public schools of Paris, she moved at 11 … Read MoreRokhaya Diallo (1978- )
Newspaper columnist and poet Ora Mae Lewis was born March 29, 1918, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her father, Nathan Leopold Lewis, was a native of Jamaica and a decorated soldier in the British Colonial Army, and her mother Cecelia Della Atkinson, a New Orleans Creole, … Read MoreOra Mae Lewis Martin (1918–2005)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Prominent Virginia journalist Ray Boone Sr. was born February 2, 1938, in Suffolk, Virginia. His parents, foreign-born Japanese father, Tsujiro Miyanski, and mother, Leathia M. Boone, of mixed African and Native American descent, were banned from marrying in Virginia because of … Read MoreRaymond Harold/ “Ray” Boone Sr. (1938–2014)