By Alexis Taylor
AFRO Managing Editor
I can still remember my first day at the AFRO. Did I sleep the night before? Of that, I can’t be sure.
What I do remember are the women who welcomed me into Black Press and those who prepared me for a career in media all along the way.
In my first hour as an intern, AFRO Editor Kristin Gray welcomed me, showed me to my work space and then promptly gave me three press releases to rewrite. One of which, titled “Baltimore City Libraries Provide Oasis in ‘Food Deserts,’” is still available online today.
Hours later, I returned home exhausted, and full of pride.
The assignments submitted that day were the first offerings I made directly to the Black Press, which my Morgan State University professors had spoken on in various classes. I was happy to get a byline, but even more pleased to spread information needed in the community. Gray taught me how to be quick and efficient, and she was truly the classy lady I aspired to be.
What followed was a summer of firsts. Later that year I met Rev. Dorothy Boulware, who whipped me into shape and stoked my passion for storytelling. After coming on to the staff, I worked with journalists like Krishana Davis, who made me hone my craft just to keep up.
Today, editors like Liz Courquet-Lesaulnier, managing editor of Word in Black, and Micha Green, managing editor of the Washington Informer, inspire me to push forward. Behind the scenes, the nearly 50-year career of former AFRO Production Manager Denise Dorsey (now, retired– seriously) shows women certainly have a place in this business, and Dr. Frances “Toni” Draper is a constant reminder that anything – even the uphill climbs of this tumultuous industry– can be done with style and grace.
Women are everywhere in the media– locally, nationally and on the world stage. No longer are we relegated to the social columns. In this edition of the AFRO we highlight some of the women reporters, photographers, editors and publishers who have sustained the Black Press year after year, decade after decade. But there is more to be done.
Newsrooms across the country are still in large part run by White media professionals. In 2022, the Radio Television Digital News Association reported that “only 6 percent of news directors – the leaders of such newsrooms – are Black.”
This is why I’m all the more proud to work for Black Press. And in a time where women’s rights are under attack across the country, I’m proud to be a woman in Black Press.
Now, more than ever it is crucial for Black women to not only be included, but lead conversations shaping the nation. This year has already been a lesson on the power of a Black woman’s voice– the firing of Joi Reid from MSNBC’s “The ReidOut,” and the dismissal of Black women in power across the nation is proof enough of potency.
Black women journalists need support. Sometimes all it costs is the share of a story. A comment on an article posting can go a long way in this business and as always, money certainly helps. The next four years will be intense– we need all the help we can get! This Women’s History Month, and just ahead of National Black Press Day on March 16, I encourage all of our readers to thank and support the Black women of the media, the keepers of the stories that shape us.
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