Alice Dunnigan ’s place of birth of Russellville , Kentucky , is more than 700 statute mile from Washington , D.C. And for Black women journalists in the former twentieth hundred , the dreaming of heading to the Capitol and covering national political relation at the high spirit level seemed even more upstage . But Dunnigan overcame racism , sexism , and other obstacle to make history as the first Black woman credentialed to cover theWhite House . Dunnigan , whose grandparents were born into thraldom , would combat favouritism and champion exemption of the press while covering three U.S. presidents .
A Long Road to Writing Success
Born on April 27 , 1906,Alice Allison Dunnigangrew up in a cottage on a red clay hill outsideRussellville , a former ConfederateCivil Warstronghold ( population 5000 ) . Dunnigan ’s father was a tenant farmer , while her mother took in washables . Their precocious daughter larn to read before entering the first class , and she began writing for theOwensboro Enterprisewhen she was just 13 . After graduating from the segregated Knob City High School in 1923 , she nail a teaching course at Kentucky State University .
During Dunnigan ’s 18 - yr calling as a Todd County teacher , her one-year salary never topped $ 800 . Her ambition went beyond commandment : She wrote “ Kentucky Fact Sheets , ” highlight Blackcontributions to state history that the official curriculum omitted , and take journalism classes at Tennessee A&I College ( now Tennessee State University ) . Her two marriages to baccy farmer Walter Dickenson in 1925 and childhood pal Charles Dunnigan in 1932 did not pan out . To pursue her vocation , she made the tough determination to have her parent raise Robert , her son from her 2d marriage , for 17 long time . In 1935 , she moved to Louisville , Kentucky , where she worked for Black - owned newspaper like theLouisville Defender .
With theJim Crowera still in force andWorld War IIraging , Dunnigan made her next gravid move to Washington , D.C. , in 1942 . contend to scat poverty , she unite the Union polite service of process and realize $ 1440 a year as a War Labor Board clerk . Yet even four years later , when she was working as an economist after studying at Howard University and commanding a$2600 salary — double that of the average Black fair sex in the country ’s chapiter — journalism kept calling her name .
Dunnigan became a Washington , D.C. , letter writer in 1946 for theAssociated Negro Press(ANP ) , the first Black - owned wire table service , supplying more than 100 newspapers nationwide . It was her ticket to cut across interior political science .
Fearlessly Covering the White House
Dunnigan ’s passion for news media did n’t boost her savings bank account . Claude A. Barnett , her ANP publisher , gave her a starting monthly pay of $ 100 — half of what his male writers take in . “ Race and sex were twin hit against me , ” Dunnigan aver subsequently . “ I ’m not certain which was the hardest to break down . ” To stay afloat financially , she oftenpawned her watchand shoveled coal , subsisting onbasic foodlike hog ears and greens . To unstrain , she drank Bloody Marys and smoke her organ pipe .
name ANP ’s agency honcho in 1947 , Dunnigan forged ahead as a political reporter despite Barnett ’s scepticism . “ For year we have tried to get a humankind accredited to the Capitol Galleries and have not succeeded , ” Barnetttold her . “ What give you reckon that you — a woman — can accomplish this exploit ? ” Though the ANP had never endorsed her covering for a Capitol mechanical press pass , Dunnigan ’s duplicate efforts at last bear off . She was approved for a Capitol wardrobe pass in July 1947 , and swiftly followed up with a successful asking for White House media credential .
In 1948 , Dunnigan became a full - fledged White House correspondent . When she was invited to join the military press corps accompanying PresidentHarry S. Truman ’s re - election military campaign , Barnett declined to pay her way — so Dunnigan took out a loan and run anyway . As one of just three dark reporter and the only dim woman hatch Truman ’s whistle - full stop tour out West , she experience high and low gear .
In Cheyenne , Wyoming , when Dunnigan render to walk with other journalists behind Truman ’s motorcade , a military officer , don she was an intruder , drive her back toward the witness . Another journalist had to intervene on her behalf . later , Truman found her typing in her compartment on the presidentialFerdinand Magellantrain andsaid,“I heard you had a small trouble . Well , if anything else pass , please let me know . ”
Dunnigan subsequently landed a scoop in Missoula , Montana , when Truman got off the gearing at night in his fertilization night-robe to address a bunch of students . Her newspaper headline read : “ Pajama Clad President Defends Civil Rights at Midnight . ”
Her kinship with PresidentDwight D. Eisenhowerin the 1950s was more contentious . The two - full term Republican president disliked her unyielding doubtfulness about hiring practices that discriminated against Black Americans , segregation at military base schools , and other civil rights issues . Max Rabb , an Eisenhower advisor , told her she shouldclear her questionswith him in advance to get better response . She correspond once , but never again . after , “ Honest Ike ” push aside Dunnigan at press conference for year , despite her condition as the first Black penis of the Women ’s National Press Club ( 1955 ) .
When PresidentJohn F. Kennedytook office in 1961 , he called on Dunnigan eight minutes into his first press conference . She call for about protection for Black tenant Fannie Merritt Farmer who had been force out from their Tennessee habitation plainly for voting in the previous election . JFKreplied,“I can submit that this administration will pursue the trouble of providing that protection , with all vigour . ”Jetmagazine thenpublishedthis headline : “ Kennedy In , Negro Reporter catch First Answer in Two days . ”
New Career, New Achievements
subsequently in 1961 , Dunnigan found a new calling . President Kennedy appointed her to his Committee on Equal Opportunity , designed to point the performing line of business for Americans seeking federal government jobs . As an educational consultant , Dunnigan tour the U.S. and give actor’s line . In 1967 , she switched over to the Council on Youth Opportunity , where she spent four age as an editor program , writing article in sustenance of young Black hoi polloi .
After retreat , she self - published her 1974autobiography , A Black Woman ’s Experience : From Schoolhouse to White House . Dunnigan died at age 77 in 1983 , but herlegacylives on . In 2013 , she was posthumously seat into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame . CNN’sApril Ryan , Lauretta Charltonof theNew York Times , and others have herald her as an intake .
In 2018 , a 500 - Lebanese pound bronzestatueof Dunnigan was reveal at the Newseum in Washington , D.C. Today , it stands outside the Struggles for Equality and Emancipation in Kentucky ( SEEK ) Museum in her aboriginal Russellville — a mum but powerfultributeto a adult female who was never short on words .
