Trailblazing Journalist Dorothy Butler Gilliam
Thursday, Feb. 4 from noon to 1 p.m.
Honoring the legacy of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., The Cultural Affairs Program joins the college’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Student Activities/Student Senate to present trailblazing journalist Dorothy Butler Gilliam during Black History Month.
Gilliam will speak about her background and experiences as the first African-American woman reporter at The Washington Post. She will also discuss her views on the lack of black-owned-and-controlled media, and how media biases play out in American society.
Student Senate Secretary Tatianna Moragne will moderate the Q&A. (Email advance questions for Gilliam to t-moragne@hvcc.edu with “Questions for Dorothy” in the subject line.) The program access link is below.
In 1961, Dorothy Butler Gilliam became the first black woman reporter for The Washington Post. She would later become an editor and a columnist for the paper, retiring in 2003. As a journalist, Gilliam has witnessed and documented tremendous social and political change, and also has been an important figure in the ongoing struggle for civil rights in the United States. She is the author of “Trailblazer: A Pioneering Journalist’s Fight to Make the Media Look More Like America,” a powerful memoir in which she reflects on her upbringing in the Jim Crow South, awakening to her own potential, the challenges of socially segregated Washington D.C., her marriage to the painter Sam Gilliam, and her ongoing struggle to bring people of color into mainstream journalism. Throughout her career, she has worked tirelessly to nurture other journalists of color and to diversify newsrooms across America. Her work as a civil rights journalist has been featured in three documentaries: Freedom’s Call, Southern Journalists Who Covered the Civil Rights Movement, and Hope & Fury: MLK, The Movement and The Media. During her career, Gilliam appeared regularly on television, including PBS, and hosted her own show on BET. She formerly served as president of the National Association for Black Journalists and of Unity: Journalists of Color.
Join the live Zoom Webinar at noon on Thursday, Feb. 4.
All students in attendance who have registered with a valid HVCC email address, will receive a $10 Subway gift card, courtesy of Student Activities.
Published: Thu, 04 Feb 2021 13:10:32 +0000 by n.hayden