Born in 1911, Ethel Lois Payne was an African-American journalist, publisher, civil rights leader and educator. Known as a tough investigative reporter, she was one of the few black women covering Washington, D.C., in the 1950’s. She was often called the “First Lady of the Black Press.”
Payne was a native of Chicago and started full time for The Chicago Defender in 1951. She served as the Defender’s White House correspondent who became known for irritating presidents with her difficult, probing questions.
She became chief of The Chicago Defender’s Washington bureau in 1954 and reported on the Montgomery Bus Boycott, desegregation efforts at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas, and the March on Washington in 1963.
One of her most memorable articles was a series written for The Defender titled, “The South at the Crossroads,” chronicling the South during the civil rights period. In 1966, she provided on-site coverage of African-American troops in Vietnam. Payne worked for the Defender for 27 years.
When CBS hired her in 1972, Payne became the first black female radio and television commentator at a national news organization. She worked at CBS for 10 years.
In the early 1980s, she campaigned for the release of South African leader Nelson Mandela from prison. She wrote about desegregation laws and other civil rights issues, and she remained passionate about those causes. Payne also felt that journalists could not be objective about certain issues that directly affected them.
Civil rights was always a priority for Payne, and she worked overtime reporting on civil rights marches, interviewing leaders in the movement, and monitoring the desegregation laws that were taking effect. Besides working on racial issues in the U.S., she traveled to Africa and reported on wars and revolutionary movements, as well as going to Vietnam.
“I fought all my life to bring about change, to correct the injustices and the inequities in the system,” she once said.
She never stopped working until her death, writing and traveling to places like South Africa, where she was arrested for taking part in anti-apartheid demonstrations. She is remembered as a tireless reporter who helped advance the cause of civil rights.
Payne’s work in Africa as a foreign correspondent prompted National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) to create the Ethel Payne Fellowships. NABJ annually seeks to award $5,000 fellowships to journalists who are seeking international reporting experience in Africa through self-conceived assignments. The NABJ World Affairs Committee administers the Payne fellowships.
Ethel Payne died of a heart attack on May 28, 1991, at age 79.