Cooke, Marvel Jackson
1903-2000 · Contribution: 1926-1952
Reporter; labor and civil rights activist
Became, in 1950, the first African American woman to work as a reporter at a mainstream white-owned newspaper when she joined New York’s Daily Compass, capping a career in which she was already the first woman reporter in the 40-year history of the New York Amsterdam News
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Quick facts
- Born
- 1903, Mankato, Minnesota
- Active since
- 1926
- Category
- Press & Photography
- Best known for
- First Black woman reporter at a mainstream white-owned daily
Impact on the world
Cooke fused investigative journalism with labor organizing, exposing the exploitation of Black women workers and breaking the color and gender line at a mainstream daily newsroom.
An alternative history
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Sources
- Source lookupFind
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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