An ongoing illustrative history study
This piece originally posted on 03/07/2026,
Women's History Month 2026
Prelude | 210 | 211 | 212 | 213 | 214 | 215 | 216 | 217 | 218 >> | Email |
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"For years, the Black press has worked to keep the stories of inequality and injustice alive. Today, the media has become slightly more diverse but not nearly enough. Journalists have an incredibly important role to play in the continuing struggle for equal rights. This is fact --not fake-- news."
Continuing down our apparently-inexhaustible list of heroic journalists, let's examine the life and career of editor, columnist, author, and educator Dorothy Butler Gilliam: the first Black woman journalist to be hired by The Washington Post.
Born in 1936 Memphis, Tenn., Dorothy originally enrolled at Ursuline University in Louisville, but later transferred to Lincoln University to study journalism --having been inspired while working for Ursuline's student newspaper, the Louisville Defender. Faced with many hiring setbacks due to her race, Dorothy finally was able to properly kick off her journalism career in 1957, working for the weekly Memphis Tri-State Defender. Significant among her stories of that era, she covered the integration of the Little Rock Nine (over the objections of her editor, L. Alex Wilson). She then worked for Jet and Ebony for several years while pursuing an advanced graduate degree in journalism, first at the Tuskegee Institute, and then ultimately graduating from Columbia. Thusly credentialed, Gilliam joined the city desk (later known as the Metro section) of The Washington Post in October 1961, and covered a number of key civil rights events, including the tumultuous 1962 integration of the University of Mississippi and the efforts of James Meredith --her first front-page article for the Post was headlined "Mississippi Negroes happily stunned by Meredith," appearing on October 6, 1962. She also interviewed Medgar Evers that same year. She stepped away from journalism for a time but rejoined the Post in 1972, where she would remain for the next 19 years.
In 1976 she authored the definitive biography of actor and activist Paul Robeson (see Lesson #18 in this series). A 1977 volunteer project to train minority journalists, blossomed into what is now known as the Robert Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, on which she served as chair from 1985-1992. Also in 1992, she was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Hall of Fame, and then served as its president from 1993 to 1995. In 1997, mindful of her own first taste of journalism when at Ursuline, she founded the Post's Young Journalists Development Project. In 2004, while a Fellow at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, she created Prime Movers Media, a journalism mentorship program for underserved students in urban schools.
Retired but by no means inactive, Dorothy continues to lecture and advocate and inspire: her memoir Trailblazer was published in 2019. Take a moment to appreciate a recent appearance with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show in 2019:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y88YcOeSPFo
Next lesson - Lesson 216: Nancy Hicks Maynard