In parallel to the previous lesson, for this entry we celebrate the life of Nancy Hicks Maynard: the first Black woman journalist to be hired by The New York Times.An ongoing illustrative history study
This piece originally posted on 03/16/2026,
Women's History Month 2026
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"Everybody always says, 'Why doesn't the Black press do this [or that?],' but nobody ever says, 'Why don't I?'"
In parallel to the previous lesson, for this entry we celebrate the life of Nancy Hicks Maynard: the first Black woman journalist to be hired by The New York Times.
Born in 1946 Harlem, Nancy Alene Hall grew up only too well aware of the popular media depictions of her hometown; her own elementary school burned down, further cementing this neighborhood stereotype. Believing that the press could --and should-- do better than to reinforce the misinterpretations, she graduated cum laude from Long Island University with a degree in journalism. In 1966 she took a (menial) job at the New York Post, but two years later an opportunity presented itself at the Times, and she took the chance. Within months she was covering such stories as the student protests/takeovers at Columbia and at Cornell, the state of healthcare in the U.S. and a deconstruction of Medicaid, as well as Chinese-American relations and the funeral of Robert Kennedy, Sr.
In 1965 she had married Daniel Hicks, with whom she had a son, but Hicks died in 1974. She remarried Washington Post reporter Robert Maynard in 1975, and together they founded the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (MIJE), a nonprofit committed to training minority journalists. (The MIJE's work has been touched upon, in a number of recent preceding lessons --one of its directors was Earl Caldwell; later in 2002 Nancy's own stepdaughter --Robert's daughter from a previous marriage-- Dori J. Maynard would also serve as its director.)
In 1978 Nancy taught journalism at the University of Michigan, but would also frequently appear as a guest commentator or panelist on Oakland's own KTVU-TV. She was also named co-director of the Media Studies Center at Freedom Forum (originally a Columbia University journalism project). In 1983 the Maynards took a gamble on acquiring the then-struggling Oakland Tribune from its parent company, Gannett. They co-owned the newspaper until Robert's death in 1993. During this time period Nancy secured a law degree from Stanford, and also published Mega Media: How Market Forces Are Transforming News.
To this day the Tribune holds the distinction of ever being the only Black-owned major metropolitan daily. After retirement Nancy continued to advocate for greater diversity in the newsroom. She died in Los Angeles in 2008. Read this particularly heartfelt tribute by Arlene Morgan, one of the beneficiaries of the training offered by MIJE:
https://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/remembering_nancy_maynard.php
Next lesson - Lesson 217: Malvyn "Mal" Johnson