Awarded the title “First Lady of the Black Press,”  Ethel Payne’s lesser-known legacy makes her one of the most inspirational journalists in American history. Over her 25 year career with The Chicago Defender, an African-American newspaper, she covered significant moments in the Civil Rights Movement, like desegregation at the University of Alabama and the Montgomery bus boycott. She was also on the White House Press Corps, leading her to become the first African-American woman to report on international news. The National Women’s History Museum notes that her accomplishments went beyond print newspapers, as she became the first African-American woman to be on a national network as a radio and television commentator with CBS. After her career ended with The Chicago Defender in 1978, she became a journalism professor at Fisk University while continuing to write about African-American topics. 

An anonymous sophomore comments on Payne’s accomplishments, saying “I really do think that she was just an incredible woman because she was still able to make a name for herself even when a lot of people were against her at the time. I’m glad that more and more people are learning about her now.”

Though Payne passed away in 1991, she is still remembered as a ground breaking journalist who led the way for women and people of color in journalism years later. In her own words, she “fought all [her] life to bring about change, to correct the injustices and the inequities in the system.”