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Ethel L. Payne was born in Chicago Illinois on August
14, 1911. She attended Lindblom High School, Crane Jr. College,
and The Medill School of Journalism.
Ethel originally wanted to be a lawyer,
but began writing in high school when she was encouraged by an English
teacher who recognized her talent. She was the first
African-American female to report international news.
Ethel was known as the "First
lady of the Black Press" and wrote for The
Chicago Defender for twenty-seven years starting in 1951.
Many of her articles concerned desegregation and Civil
Rights issues. Ethel considered Civil Rights to be top
priority and she worked tirelessly covering Civil Rights marches and
interviewing the leaders of the movement. She reported
on many of the major events of the Civil Rights movement including the
Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1956, desegregation efforts at Little Rock
Central High School in 1957, and the March on Washington in 1963. One
of her most memorable articles was a series written for The Defender
titled "The South at the Crossroads," chronicling the
South during the civil rights period. Ethel
accompanied Vice President Nixon to the independence ceremonies in
Ghana.
Ethel became the
chief of The Chicago Defender's Washington bureau in 1954. In 1966 she
provided on-site coverage of African American troops in Vietnam. She
became the first black female radio and television commentator at a
national news organization when CBS hired her in 1972 and worked there
until 1982. In the early 1980s she campaigned for the release of South
African leader Nelson Mandela from prison. She saw her work as a form
of activism and is said to have often quoted Frederick Douglass's
admonition to "agitate, agitate, agitate."
Ethel received many awards, honors and
citations iduring her illustrious career ncluding the Africare
Distinguished Service Award in 1983, the TransAfrica
African Freedom Award in 1987 and an award in 1967 from
the Capital Press Club for her Vietnam Report.
Ethel L. Payne died of a heart attack on May 28,
1991, at the age 79.
"I fought all of my life to bring about
change, to correct injustices and the inequalities in the system."
-- Ethel L. Payne
Sources:
Encyclopedia
Britannica
Encyclopedia
Africana
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