Announcements

FROM: The Office of Multicultural Affairs and Diversity Education RE: Celebrate Black History Month- Gwen Ifill, Award-Winning Journalist
Sent:
2/8/2019 8:46:30 AM
To: Students, Faculty, Staff

 

Gwen Ifill was a Peabody award-winning political reporter, journalist, host, and moderator.1 Born on September 29, 1955, to a strongly religious and political family, Ifill, a preacher’s daughter, and her siblings were “expected to be conversant in the major events of the civil rights and Vietnam War eras.”2 After attending and graduating from Simmons College, where she majored in Communications, Ifill found work as a reporter for the Boston Herald-American. She went on to work for many reputable publications including The Washington Post and The New York Times.2

Ifill decided to focus her time doing on-camera reporting and, in 1994, became a congressional correspondent for NBC News. Additionally, she made several guest appearances on many well-known political television programs, most notably Meet the Press.3 A trailblazer for African American journalists, Ifill held many firsts including, being the first African American woman to host a major national political show “Washington Week in Review”2 and the first African-American woman to moderate a vice presidential debate in 2004 and again in 2008. Also, Ifill and Judy Woofruff became the first women to anchor a network news program at PBS News Hour. Her storied career included moderating panel discussions exploring many important political topics such as “America after Charleston” in September 2015 and the societal issues brought forth from the 2015 shooting at South Carolina’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.4 Fondly remembered by a colleague as “a journalist’s journalist”, Ifill died in November 2016 after an extended illness.5

To learn more about Gwen Ifill, visit:

https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/gwen-ifill-6

  1. http://www.peabodyawards.com/award-profile/washington-week-with-gwen-ifill-national-journal
  2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/gwen-ifill-journalist-who-became-staple-of-public-affairs-tv-shows-dies-at-61/2016/11/14/2ae4c106-aa91-11e6-977a-1030f822fc35_story.html?utm_term=.72607c193c84
  3. https://www.biography.com/people/gwen-ifill-212144
  4. https://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/profile/gwen-ifill
  5. https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/gwen-ifill-pbs-dies-1201917581/