As Blavity previously reported, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner returned last weekend after a two-year COVID-19 absence, bringing back the usual mix of politicians, journalists and celebrities to roast one another and promote the importance of a free press. This year’s affair brought the usual laughs, as President Joe Biden got in good jabs against Republicans and Fox News. And host Trevor Noah roasted everyone involved. One of the most serious and poignant moments of the night, however, came when the ceremony honored two groundbreaking Black women journalists, Alice Dunnigan and Ethel Payne.
Pioneering Black women reporters made their mark in D.C.
Dunnigan and Payne were honored by the White House Correspondents’ Association with lifetime achievement awards bearing their names. As explained by Gayle King when she presented this inaugural Dunnigan-Payne Prize for Lifetime Career Achievement, these two reporters were the first two Black women to be members of the White House press corps, covering presidents and other elected officials at the highest levels of government.
Dunnigan was born in 1906 in Russellville, Ky., where her father was a tobacco sharecropper and her mother did laundry. Dunnigan expressed an interest and talent for journalism early on, writing for a local newspaper as a teenager and studying journalism courses at Tennessee State University and later at Howard. Though her journey had a few twists, including a short marriage to a tobacco farmer and a stint as a teacher, she eventually became a full-time reporter for the American Negro Press. This allowed her to cover Capitol Hill and later the White House, which were rare opportunities for Black people and women.
Ethel Payne was born in 1911 in Chicago. She tried several things before becoming a reporter, including an attempt to go to law school and a stint running an Army club in Japan. The latter job led to her journalism after her journal accounts of Black soldiers in Japan were eventually printed by the Chicago Defender newspaper. Payne became a reporter for the Defender in 1951, and she joined Dunnigan in 1954 when she became the second Black woman in the White House press corps.
Breaking barriers at the White House and beyond
Both Dunnigan and Payne made a big impression as White House reporters. They became known for peppering President Eisenhower with questions about civil rights, a topic that other White House reporters ignored. Eisenhower, in turn, eventually started ignoring the two women as well.
The uneasy relationship with the Eisenhower administration did not deter either journalist. Though shut out by Eisenhower, Dunnigan found a better reception from the next president, John F. Kennedy, who was so impressed by her that he hired her as an educational consultant. She went on to serve in a variety of advisory roles on youth, employment and education in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.
Payne’s presence in Washington, D.C., earned her the nickname “the First Lady of the Black Press.” In addition to tough coverage of the White House, Payne extensively covered the Civil Rights Movement and also reported from Africa multiple times in her career. In 1972, Payne was hired by CBS News, becoming the first Black woman to serve as a political commentator for a major television network.
Dunning died in 1983 after publishing two books including an autobiography A Black Woman’s Experience: From Schoolhouse to White House. Payne, who received multiple journalism awards and recognitions later in life, passed away in 1991. With the new White House Correspondents Association award named in their honor, both women’s legacies will continue to live on.
