Charlayne Hunter-Gault

1942-
Activist, Broadcast Journalist
Birthplace: Due West, SC
Education: University of Georgia

Charlayne Hunter-Gault is one of television's premier journalists. She began her career as a "Talk of the Town" reporter for The New Yorker. She was an investigative reporter and local news anchor in Washington, DC, and worked for the New York Times for ten years.

Charlayne went on to have a distinguished 20-year career with the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). She was a national correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. While working for PBS, Hunter-Gault interviewed Nelson Mandela when he was released from prison. In 1997, Charlayne moved to Johannesburg and worked as National Public Radio's chief correspondent in Africa.

Charlayne received two Emmy awards, two Peabody awards, the 1986 Journalist of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Journalists, the 1990 Sidney Hillman Award, the American Women in Radio and Television Award, the Good Housekeeping Broadcast Personality of the Year Award, the Tom Paine Award, Amnesty International's Media Spotlight Award, and the African-American Institute award for outstanding coverage of Africa.

Charlayne made civil rights history as the first African-American woman to graduate from the University of Georgia in 1962. Her memoir, In My Place, is about her experiences as a civil rights activist in college. She also holds more than two dozen honorary degrees. Charlayne Hunter-Gault joined CNN in April 1999.

Web Resource
Newshour Reporters
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/ww/hunter-gault.html

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