Trailblazer : A Pioneering Journalist's Fight to Make the Media Look More Like America

**Dorothy Butler Gilliam, whose 50-year-career as a journalist put her in the forefront of the fight for social justice, offers a comprehensive view of racial relations and the media in the U.S.**Most civil rights victories are achieved behind the scenes, and this riveting, beautifully written memoir by a "black first" looks back with searing insight on the decades of struggle, friendship, courage, humor and savvy that secured what seems commonplace today-people of color working in mainstream media.Told with a pioneering newspaper writer's charm and skill, Gilliam's full, fascinating life weaves her personal and professional experiences and media history into an engrossing tapestry. When we read about the death of her father and other formative events of her life, we glimpse the crippling impact of the segregated South before the civil rights movement when slavery's legacy still felt astonishingly close. We root for her as a wife, mother, and ambitious professional as she seizes once-in-a-lifetime opportunities never meant for a "dark-skinned woman" and builds a distinguished career. We gain a comprehensive view of how the media, especially newspapers, affected the movement for equal rights in this country. And in this humble, moving memoir, we see how an innovative and respected journalist and working mother helped provide opportunities for others.With the distinct voice of one who has worked for and witnessed immense progress and overcome heart-wrenching setbacks, this book covers a wide swath of media history -- from the era of game-changing Negro newspapers like the__Chicago Defender__to the civil rights movement, feminism, and our current imperfect diversity. This timely memoir, which reflects the tradition of boot-strapping African American storytelling from the South, is a smart, contemporary consideration of the media. Dorothy Butler Gilliam, whose 50-year-career as a journalist put her in the forefront of the fight for social justice, offers a comprehensive view of racial relations and the media in the U.S. Most civil rights victories are achieved behind the scenes, and this riveting, beautifully written memoir by a "black first" looks back with searing insight on the decades of struggle, friendship, courage, humor and savvy that secured what seems commonplace today-people of color working in mainstream media. Told with a pioneering newspaper writer's charm and skill, Gilliam's full, fascinating life weaves her personal and professional experiences and media history into an engrossing tapestry. When we read about the death of her father and other formative events of her life, we glimpse the crippling impact of the segregated South before the civil rights movement when slavery's legacy still felt astonishingly close. We root for her as a wife, mother, and ambitious professional as she seizes once-in-a-lifetime opportunities never meant for a "dark-skinned woman" and builds a distinguished career. We gain a comprehensive view of how the media, especially newspapers, affected the movement for equal rights in this country. And in this humble, moving memoir, we see how an innovative and respected journalist and working mother helped provide opportunities for others. With the distinct voice of one who has worked for and witnessed immense progress and overcome heart-wrenching setbacks, this book covers a wide swath of media history — from the era of game-changing Negro newspapers like the Chicago Defender to the civil rights movement, feminism, and our current imperfect diversity. This timely memoir, which reflects the tradition of boot-strapping African American storytelling from the South, is a smart, contemporary consideration of the media. "A powerful behind-the-scenes memoir from the first female African American reporter at The Washington Post. Gilliam recounts her full, fascinating life--spanning from the 1930s to the present. With a newspaper writer's resourcefulness, wit, and skill, this high-octane octogenarian weaves her personal and professional experiences together with six decades of media history witnessed firsthand. She recounts seizing once-in-a-lifetime opportunities never before possible for a "dark-skinned woman." Having grown up in the segregated South, she fondly describes the black church community that nurtured her self-image, steeling her against childhood and adolescent hardships and preparing her for unimagined ones to come. As we follow Gilliam's distinguished sixty-year career, we glimpse how the media has changed. As we read her first stories as a reporter for The Post, we learn she was told to enter by the back door when she arrived for interview assignments. During her coverage of the Civil Rights Movement, even her Washington Post expense account could not get her a hotel room while she was on assignment in Mississippi. Excerpts of her poignant columns chronicle the times when mainstream media first began to cover black culture. We are confidantes to the struggles of a black journalist breaking ground in a white world, while juggling her role as a wife and working mother, coming into her own during the Black Power and Women's Movements. Gilliam's life offers piercing insights into the role of the media in these movements. Having worked for diversity in the media, witnessed immense progress, and also overcome heart-wrenching setbacks, Gilliam gives voice to the change still needed to make the media more inclusive of all Americans."--Jacket Dorothy Butler Gilliam, whose fifty-year-career as a journalist put her in the forefront of the fight for social justice, offers a comprehensive view of racial relations and the media in the US, covering a wide swath of media history--from the era of game-changing Negro newspapers like the Chicago Defender to the civil rights movement, feminism, and our current imperfect diversity Trailblazer is a powerful behind-the-scenes memoir from the first African American reporter at The Washington Post. Gilliam recounts her full, fascinating life - spanning from the 1930s to the present.